


It's Going Down

by thebench2008



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, Multi, ben just wants to help but sometimes he doesn't, core four being the best friends out, someone adopt all the villain kids and just hug them, the more i write uma the more i feel bad for her
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebench2008/pseuds/thebench2008
Summary: A twist on the plot of Descendants 2 - Mal and Evie have been together since before they could remember, so what happens when Mal can't take the pressure of being good and deserts Auradon for the Isle? Evie, Carlos, Jay and Ben follow her, but run into trouble when Uma and her crew realise they are there. Uma has a score to settle that goes deep into their past, and may have found the perfect source for revenge when Evie falls into their hands.





	1. Caught

“Mal, it’s about Evie. Uma has her.”

Mal truly believed running back to the Isle of the Lost was the right thing to do. She had itched with the need for it; Auradon was suffocating her slowly. After her defeat of Maleficent, the people had welcomed them so much that she was sent on a kingdom tour with Ben, (who was now broken from the love spell and very much only a friend) to meet and converse with their highest and most important. Why she was sent instead of someone like Evie, who was made for diplomacy, she would never understand. But it was so much, it was too much.

_“Mal, it’s about Evie. Uma has her.”_

She did the tour for Evie. Everything she ever did was for Evie, her girlfriend, the source of light in her world. Evie was so excited when she told her that she had been asked to join King Ben on the tour. Her dreams of being able to be fully immersed in the Auradon world and have people accept them could now be realised. Mal saw the excitement in Evie’s eyes, saw how passionate and determined she was about the tour when she wasn’t even the one attending. And Mal knew she had to do it, for Evie.

_“Mal, it’s about Evie. Uma has her.”_

Evie was amazing through it all. She designed all of Mal’s outfits, she pampered her when she came home exhausted, she pep talked her into going out each morning. She listened to her rant about weird traits the kingdom had, and ignorant comments they made about the Isle. She became overcome with excitement when Ben said the tour was going well, and they were thinking of extending it.

It was the final straw for Mal. If she left, Evie could take her place, she said to herself. If she left, Evie would meet all of these people who could provide opportunities for her. If she left, she wouldn’t have to see Evie’s face break when she told her she had to quit, that she wasn’t strong enough. That she couldn’t do it for her, the light of her life.

_“Mal, it’s about Evie. Uma has her.”_

After all that Mal had been through, there were few things that could break her. Stares from ignorant people in Auradon passed her by with no worry. Fears she had regarding her mother were but a distant memory.

But Evie being held by Uma? Mal didn’t have to see her own reflection to know she had turned white as a ghost.

  
—————

_It was the riskiest mission they’d ever attempted. Conniving Uma, daughter of Ursula, out of her own territory? If they were caught it was game over. But Evie was their best hope, and she had insisted._

_Their relationship with Uma started when they were kids, as tentative allies. Petty theft here and there, always benefitting each other. But there was never the connection with her that the four had with each other. There was always a catch, there was no hint in loyalty. They had been abandoned by her before, put in situations where they had to fight their way out before. There was a nastiness that indicated Uma was all for herself, and the four couldn’t risk it._

_They weren’t planning to take the territory. They weren’t looking to subject themselves to more harm than necessary. But Ursula was forcing Uma and her crew wider. They had increasing influence on where supplies from the Auradon barges ended up. And Maleficent wouldn’t hear of it._

_“You will take the territory away from the tentacled freaks and their pirate scum, or you will be sorry.”_

_There was no other option - they had deliberated them all. And the only plan that avoided ending in an all out war (which none of the 14 year olds were willing to do) used Evie at the centre._

_They had all seen the way Uma’s eyes always followed Evie. Always less bite to the words she said to her, always less harshness in her eyes. She was infatuated, and who could blame her?_

_Of course, Evie had taken it in her stride. She could flip her hair and bat her eyelashes for about anything she wanted on the Isle, and Uma, it seems, was no exception to those who fell to Evie’s charm._

_It infuriated Mal that this was their best chance at the territory. Having to sit and watch her greatest growing enemy think she was special to Evie. Watching Uma stalk around Evie like she was hers, how she dared to put a finger on her, even though she knew Evie never gave up control of the situation. Evie would only leave Uma wanting, so much so that she would be willing to give anything to have Evie for herself. It was hard for Mal to remember that this was a game, that Evie was playing Uma right into their hands, and that she loved Mal, not Uma._

_Carlos and Jay were always watching in the shadows, glaring as if Uma could see their unveiled threats. Uma was too brash and coarse for Evie. The pirate girl would never realise the love and sacrifice Evie was capable of, and the danger she was putting herself in._

_They all knew they would never forgive themselves if they allowed Evie to be hurt. There was an unspoken rule that traversed most of the territory on the Isle - nobody hurts Evie without consequence. Many had tried, but all had regretted it. And now, there would be hell to pay for everyone if she was._

—————

“How.”

Mal’s blunt demand for an answer had lead to silence. Her eyes fired green and her next yells reverberated through the hideout.

“How could you let this happen! How could you let Uma take her!”

Jay and Carlos flinched with the yell, but it was the least of what they were expecting. Ben grabbed the chair in front of him in surprise, and suddenly realised there was much more to this than he expected.

“Our greatest enemy. The person who has vowed vengeance against us since we were 14. A person we have never trusted.”

—————

_Of course, it was never wise to underestimate Evie. She had Uma wrapped around her so fast that no one could have seen it coming._

_Uma, being so arrogant, never suspected Evie could have been there for another reason but to want to be hers. She forgot all the lessons the Isle taught her when Evie complimented her strength and valour, her leadership, her looks, and especially her territory. She wasn’t careful with the information she spilled - where to access the barge fastest when it landed, how to intimidate store owners so they only bought supplies from her, how to take money and stock and keep the populace from acting out._

_It all seemed too easy. Once Evie relayed the information, the four set to work, slowly but surely using their influence (combined with their parents) to peel people away from Uma and onto them. The more resistant ones received an unwelcome visit from Maleficent’s disgusting lackeys, but on the whole, store owners were much more concerned about having 4 of the most infamous villains and their kids on their case, than Ursula and some dimwitted pirates._

_They arrived before Uma, they snuck the barge faster and more efficiently, they had control before Uma could stop her head from dizzying to realise she’d been played._

_There could have been a confrontation, but standing in the middle of a street that was no longer hers, Uma knew she had to back down._

_She saw Evie sticking like glue to Mal’s side. Saw her allow Mal to get close, to touch. Saw a connection between them that transcended anything she could have ever imagined with her, or anything she had ever seen on the Isle. She was enraged. Evie should have been hers._

_The insults she fired at Evie were met with hardened stares, and threatening eyes from Mal. It’s not like she had never heard others calling Evie those names before. Men yelled out at her as she flounced away from them down alleys, as they called out to her on the street and she walked right by like a regal queen not worth their time. It was then Uma realised she was exactly like those men. Nothing more than another one of Evie’s pawns, another wide eyed infatuated object that was used for a goal._

_Before she could act on her anger, Mal had dumped an entire bucket of shrimp on her, the slime falling over her face and eyes and inhibiting her movement. She heard laughter from all corners, and the more she heard the more she felt her influence dying away. Street kids would never fear her if they knew Mal would protect them. Vendors weren’t willing to risk their livelihoods against the Isle’s most feared. This was a public execution, and Uma had been slaughtered._

_“See ya round, Shrimpy.”_

_She stalked off at Mal’s full fingered wave, vowing that one way or the other, she would get them._

_(She got her first chance the moment the shiny car left the barrier. After years of being reduced to a territory so small it only included the shop and the walkway beside it, she was gunning for some action. Her moment came with rage and fury, determined to win for a change. If they were going to leave them to rot here, she was a least going to live with what she deserved. She hardened her crew, and they ruled the streets just as much as Mal ever did, that she was sure of)._

—————

“Mal, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault.” Ben started, gulping when Mal rounded on him.

“Explain.”

“After I talked to you, I walked away from the group to cool down. They split off to search for me and Evie found me one second before um…”

“Harry Hook did.” Jay finished, fists clenched in frustration.

—————

_“Ben! Don’t scare me like that!” Evie exclaimed as she ran up to him. Before he could reply, another voice came out of the darkness._

_“Don’t scare me!” A voice mocked. “But that’s my speciality.”_

_Evie’s eyes widened at the emergence of Harry Hook and his piercing wicked grin._

_“Well, well, well. Haven’t we been blessed by royalty tonight.” Harry said as he stalked towards them._

_Evie scanned their surroundings quickly but the only exit was blocked by another pirate and Gil. She shoved Ben behind her and held her head up at Harry._

_“Harry. I would say it’s a pleasure but I’ve been taught not to lie.”_

_“You certainly have, you traitorous slut.”_

_Ben’s eyes widened behind Evie. Sure, he expected some of the villains and their children to be hardened and a bit rough, but the malice behind Harry’s words were something more._

_“We’re not here for trouble -”_

_Harry cut Evie off with a harsh laugh. “You think you get to decide that?”_

_Ben tried to step forward, tried to speak in his best diplomatic voice, but Evie stepped on his shoe and shoved him back._

_“Alright Princess,” Harry sneered, “I think it’s time we payed Uma a visit, don’t you?”_

_“I’d rather not.”_

_Harry laughed again, as the pirates crowded in._

_“Why not the King?” Gil said, only to be met with an eye roll from Harry._

_“Another day and Uma would have loved her chance to hold the King hostage. But with this prize?” Harry started as he twirled Evie’s hair around his hook. “Uma’s vengeance can finally be done.”_

_Before Ben could realise what was going on, Harry had his hook around the back of Evie’s neck and had pushed her to the ground. A fist from Gil was on his chest before he could move to stop him, and a pirate nearby half pulled out their sword as an unspoken threat._

_Evie’s face was on the ground as her hands were tied behind her back. She wasn’t fighting back and Ben was worried at the sight. If Evie wasn’t even going to attempt to find her way out of it, how bad was this Uma person?_

_Harry then pierced his hook through Evie’s jacket, lifting her up from the floor with it. She pulled at her ties and flayed her elbows best she could, but when she felt the hook leave her jacket and wrap around the front of her neck, she stopped moving instantly._

_Harry’s hook nicked the side of her neck on her last movement, a thin red line forming and a slow drip of blood leaking out after it._

_“Evie…” Ben whispered, horrified at the situation he had gotten his friend into._

_Harry smiled wickedly behind her, stepping back and taking Evie with him. He dipped his head, and the rest of the pirates smirked, dipping their bodies into mockeries of a bow, arms out showing him the way to exit the alley._

_“So long, King Ben.” Harry spat._

_Ben was paralysed, he couldn’t just leave Evie here. He met her eyes and he faltered more when he didn't see the confident look he had grown used to._

_“Ben, go. Go find Mal and the boys. They will know wha -”_

_“Shut it, Princess.” Harry said, knocking his hook into her jaw to keep it closed._

_She closed her eyes for a brief second in pain, and they opened again, they looked at Ben. “Go.” They said. And so he did._

_He ran as fast as he could back to where he had left, colliding with Jay and Carlos at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as he had explained what he think happened, Jay had already started climbing up the metal netting on the sides of the hideout - they had to tell Mal._

—————

Mal sat down on the couch, head in her hands.

“Fuck. Not Evie, not Evie.”

Carlos started pacing. “We have to get her away from Uma.”

“Who is Uma?”

Three heads looked up at Ben when he asked that.

“Someone who would very much like to hurt any one of us, especially Evie, at any given chance.” Jay said.

“But why?”

Mal shook her head. “Childhood enemies. Pressure from parents. Boredom. Arrogance. Take your pick. It was stupidly risky of us to do what we did to her and expect no fallback. We thought we were invincible.”

Ben sat down as they explained their past with Uma, the four of them worried dearly about their friend who was currently being carted to Uma’s ship.

—————

“Oh Uma!” Harry sang out, pushing a stumbling Evie in front of him.

Most of the pirates on the ship had turned around at his entrance, and upon seeing who he brought with them had caused such a ruckus that Uma appeared.

She saw the blue hair first and thought it was a joke. She knew from Harry and Gil that they had been spotted back on the Isle tonight, but she never thought they would be stupid enough to wander right into their hands.

Her face broke out into a wicked grin, hands tightening around the swords in her belt in excitement.

“Harry, you’ve outdone yourself.”

“Haven’t I?” Harry replied as he stopped in front of Uma, slipping his hook back into the hole he had left earlier in Evie’s jacket and pushing her down to her knees in front of Uma.

“For you, my Captain.” He said, taking a step back to leave Evie in Uma’s presence.

Evie was staring at the ground, refusing to pick her head up to look at Uma. Uma soon changed that as she reached down and grabbed her chin, forcing her head up to see her.

Her eyes instantly locked onto the cut on Evie, which had now formed into a blood stain down the side of her neck, and she grinned, eyes tilting up to Harry in a silent question.

Harry returned the grin, hands up in half surrender even though he knew Uma would give Evie worse later. “She didn’t…‘come quietly’, as they say.”

Uma let out a harsh laugh. “No, that’s not in this little whore’s nature, is it?”

She then turned her attention down to the girl who was (unwillingly) kneeling at her feet, chin lodged in her hands. “My, my, it is so good to see you Princess.” Uma said, curling out the last word. “Look how well you’ve grown.”

“Wish I could say the same for you.” Evie forced out around Uma’s grip on her face, which only got tighter at those words.

“Such confidence for someone who is in a rather, precarious situation, wouldn’t we say?”

Uma’s pirates jeered at that, waving their swords in the air.

“All this time waiting, waiting for my chance. And you make it so easy.” Uma let go of her chin and flicked her hair. “You’ve lost your touch.”

“And you never had any to begin with.”

Uma, quick to jump to anger when insulted, grabbed the back of Evie’s jacket and some hair along with it. She hauled her over to a pole on the ship, unceremoniously dropping her at the bottom of it. Evie’s signature blue leather jacket slipped off when she was pushed to the ground, and Uma flicked it over her back.

“Tie her up! Legs too. And I’d make sure it’s a good job. If she escapes, you’re all overboard.”

Uma’s pirates scrambled to follow orders. As none of them wanted to be thrown to the sharks, they rough-housed Evie, pulling her into a standing position against the pole and tying harsh ropes against her. Evie tried to throw as many elbows in their faces as she could before they had her secured.

“Harry.” Uma called, leading the boy over as she held out Evie’s jacket for him to take. “Find Mal, Jay and Carlos. Tell them we have Evie, and then tell Mal to come alone to the shop. I’m sure she’s missing her girlfriend, don’t you think?”

With an evil laugh, Harry bounded off with a few pirates behind him to deliver the news.

—————

Mal knew who it was as soon as she heard the whistling down the alley. She wanted to lunge, but Jay and Carlos held her back, remembering Ben said he was travelling with other pirates before.

Sure enough, Harry emerged from the darkness at the bottom of the hideout with the biggest smirk on his face, three pirates backing him up.

“You son of a bitch.” Mal sneered, eyes glowing green.

Harry gasped, pretending to be scandalised. “Now, now Mal. Whatever would Auradon say about that mouth of yours?”

“I don’t give a fuck what they would say and neither do you. What did you do to her!”

“Oh don’t worry about your girl, she’s well looked after. She and Uma are being…reacquainted.” He said, slowly lifting up Evie’s jacket and dangling it in front of Mal.

Mal lunged forward at that, snatching the jacket from him and snarling. “You’re going to pay for this.”

Harry and the pirates laughed. “Actually, you’re the one’s that’ll be paying.”

Carlos sighed. “What do you want.”

“Have Mal come to the shop tonight, alone. Uma wants a little visit.”

“You pirates never fight fair. What is it, your whole crew vs Mal? Have to have your enemy so outnumbered it would be impossible to lose?” Jay scoffed.

Harry snarled at Jay, the pirates behind him moving in closer. “I’d be watching my mouth, if I were you lot. You never know what’s going to come back and hit your little Princess if you don’t.”

Mal flinched at the way he punctuated the word ‘hit’.

“Oh and,” Harry started, teasingly, “If you’ve got any doubts we will be playing nice, why don’t you have a wee look at the collar of your Princess’s jacket.”

Mal, Jay and Carlos winced, looking down as Mal turned the jacket to the collar, seeing the stain of blood that had leaked onto it from her neck.

“What did you do to her!” Mal yelled out, frustration and anger boiling over.

“Ta ta!” Harry called over his shoulder with a smirk as the pirates walked away, leaving Mal, Jay and Carlos in the alley.

Carlos threw a rock at the sign, pushing them up the stairs. “Come on, let’s get back up to Ben and figure this out.”

—————

“Ok so what are we going to do?” Ben asked after they had relayed the message to him.

“We are not doing anything. This is between Uma and me. And she’s a punk and guess what? Now I have to go sort it out.”

“Whoa, whoa Mal. You’re still going to have to go through Harry Hook and his war friends.”

“Yeah,” Jay said, backing up Carlos. “You’re going to need us.”

“Uma said to come alone.”

“Mal, come on.” Ben said exasperatedly. But both Jay and Carlos sighed and shook their heads, knowing Uma wouldn’t see kindly to Mal showing up with backup.

“Uma said to come alone.” Carlos repeated, sitting down.

“We’ll be here when you get back.” Jay nodded.

—————

Mal steeled herself before she pushed open the doors of the chip shop. The smell still bothered her. She let the doors flap shut behind her and surveyed her surroundings quickly. Her eyes centred on Uma, sitting in the middle of the room, feet up on the table, shit eating grin on her face.

Green eyes flashing, Mal drawled out a sing song greeting. “I’m back.”

Uma cackled, throwing her feet off the table. “Loser, party of one. Right this way please.” She kicked a chair at Mal when she got close enough, eyes raising in amusement when Mal caught it in time.

Uma stood up when Mal sat down, not wanting to give the impression that Mal had any power here.

“Place still stinks.”

“Oh I’m sorry, we’re down a butler today. Princess.” Uma spat, leaning forward.

“Where is she.”

Uma’s eyes turned wicked. “You know I’ve dreamed of this? You wanting something from me, and me watching you squirm like a worm on a hook.”

“I’m so flattered that you dream of me. I haven’t given you a thought since I left.”

Uma didn’t like that one bit, and slammed her fist on the table. “Obviously. You have your perfect little life, don’t you? Doesn’t she have the perfect life?” The patrons of the shop jeered. “While we’re 20 years into a garbage strike.”

“Listen, if you have some sort of score to settle with me, game on. This is between you and me. I see no need to drag Evie into this.”

“This became about her the second you sent her to take my territory. You think something like that gets forgiven? Forgiveness doesn’t exist here, incase you forgot that…your majesty.”

Mal shook her head slowly, staring Uma down. “If you hurt her - ”

“You’ll what?” Uma interrupted with a laugh. “Don’t make threats you can’t come through on Mal. You and I both know you’re coming for her no matter her…state. And I know you know she’s already in a state.”

Mal’s eyes burned a brighter green than ever before at the mention of the blood. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be Uma. If you hurt her again you’ll be sorry.”

Laughing, Uma crossed her arms and leaned over the table again. “I’m not sure if you’ve forgotten how this works, but I’m in charge here, not you. You think you can tell me not to hurt her? You think you have control?”

“You won’t have control if she’s dead.”

“She won’t be dead, I’m not stupid.” Uma laughed out. “But will she be in perfect condition? I make no promises.”

At that, Mal lunged from her chair into a standing position, right in Uma’s face.

“Fiesty.” Uma grinned and bit the air between them. “So here’s the deal.”

“Just like your mother, always a catch.”

Uma snaked around to a seat and slammed her elbow down on the table, holding her hand up. “If you win, Evie is free to go!”

A look of pleasant surprise flashed through Mal’s eyes before she put her passive facade back on. This would be too easy. Her hand came up to meet Uma’s when Uma spoke again.

“Don’t you want to know what I get if I win?”

“Still dreaming.”

“Last time I checked, your Mother thought she had things all sorted out too. How’d that work out for her again?”

Mal rolled her eyes, not taking the bait. “On three.”

The two girls counted down and the match began. Uma’s strength was no match for Mal’s, and that’s when the smack talking started.

“You know that whole ‘reformed villain’ character your little Princess has going on? Never bought it for a second.” Uma said, though the effort of the arm wrestle was evident in her voice. “You can slap some manners and presentable clothes on a whore but she’s still a whore.”

Mal was enraged and looked to get the upper hand. “And you can slap a pirate hat on but you’re still shrimpy.”

Just when Mal was ready to claim victory, the surface of the table just inches from Uma’s hand, Uma spoke again. “If I win, you bring me the wand.”

The shock to Mal’s system was so great she lost all focus and strength and felt her hand being slammed against the table on the other side. In a matter of half a second she had realised the daunting task ahead of her. There was no way they could get that wand. And if there was no wand, there was no Evie.

Uma cackled in victory, and leaned over Mal again. “Now, if you want your little princess back, bring me Fairy Godmother’s magic wand to my ship tomorrow at 12 noon. Sharp. Oh, and if you blab? You can kiss your baby goodbye. So hurry on there, the clock is ticking.”

Mal stared ahead still, refusing to look her in the eye when she heard Uma turn around again.

“Although, on second thought, don’t hurry. I’m going to enjoy my time with her.”

Done with being in the shop and feeling like she was overpowered (which she definitely was), Mal kicked the chair back and stood up, slamming her hands down on the table. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

“Oh, but isn’t she just so delicious? A princess like that deserves more than just to be stared at.”

Mal contemplated lunging at her, but knew she was outnumbered. She crossed her arms and stalked to the door.

“Goodbye Mal.” Uma called after her. “I’ll pass along your regards to her, one way or another.”

—————

“There’s no way we’re going to give Uma the wand, we can’t just let her destroy Auradon.” Ben exclaimed when Mal got back to the hideout and explained the situation.

“If Uma doesn’t get the wand then Evie is toast.”

“Evie is more important than a stupid wand.” Jay said, agreeing with Carlos.

Ben raised his voice. “Oh great, so we’re going to give Uma, of all people, the wand.”

“Do we have another choice? We - ”

“Wait you guys!” Mal cut off Carlos. “Your 3D printer!”

“A phony wand.”

“Yes!”

“ In my sleep.”

“Yeah but the second Uma tests it she’ll know it’s fake.” Ben said, trying to be the voice of reason.

“Ok then so we just get Evie out really fast, we need some kind of diversion.” Mal said, determined to make it work.

“Smoke bombs!”

Mal pointed at him excitedly. “That’s perfect Jay! We can get the chemicals from Lady Tremaine’s shop. Ok, Carlos and Ben, you guys get the 3D wand and meet us at Pirates Bay no later than noon tomorrow. Jay and I will stay here and gather supplies.”

All three nodded, standing up.

“And you guys? Losing is not an option.” Mal put a hand on her forehead, as if rubbing away a headache. She spoke true. “Evie is my entire world. It’s my fault she came back to the place she hates the most and it’s my fault she’s in so much danger. I’ll never forgive myself for this, but I can’t survive without her. We have to get her back.”

Jay and Carlos nodded. “I feel sick, it’s our fault Evie got captured as well. We let our guard down. We forgot what made us survive.” Jay said.

“But hey,” Carlos started, “Evie is strong. If anyone can make it through this, it’s her. She was the one who took out Chad at family day without hesitation. She was the one who knocked out that girl who tried to cut a piece of Mal’s hair off in high school, and she was the one who danced her way out of that sword fight Jay got himself into.”

Jay grinned at the memory and nodded. “Yeah, we would have been gonners without her. She can make it through.”

Mal nodded, trying not to get too hopeful even though she felt her heart warming at the positivity. “That’s my girl.”

“If I hadn’t been so adamant to talk to you first, and if I hadn’t wandered off when Evie specifically told me not to, we would never be in this mess. I’m so sorry, to all of you. I know how much you mean to each other, that you’re the only family you all have.” Ben said, eyes downcast.

Mal nodded, and gave him a small smile. “It’s ok. If Evie were here she would forgive you. When we get her back, I’ll have forgiven you too. Now let’s do this.”

 


	2. The Wait

It was getting close to midnight, but for Isle standards, the night was still young. After seeing Ben and Carlos off back to Auradon to make the wand, Mal and Jay snuck through the streets to Curl Up and Dye, knocking on the door gently.

Dizzy looked up, happy and surprised to see Mal back so soon after doing her makeover, and even happier to see Jay next to her.

“Jay!” She exclaimed as she ran up and gave him a hug along with Mal.

Jay chuckled, hugging Dizzy back as she stepped away.

“If you’re here is Evie back too?”

Mal looked at Dizzy’s optimistic and hopeful face, and knew she couldn’t crush her dreams. Evie was the one stronghold in Dizzy’s life. Knowing their worst enemy had her hostage would send Dizzy in a spiral.

“No babe, Evie isn’t back. I’m sorry.” Mal said, looking at Dizzy’s downtrodden face.

“It’s ok. Is there something I can help you with?”

Jay smiled slightly. “We’re actually after some smoke bombs. Think you can help us out so we can get into a little mischief if we need to?”

Dizzy grinned back - she had missed this. “Of course!”

As Dizzy and Jay got to work, Mal walked around the shop, looking at everything. She got to the counter and picked up a container Dizzy had missed earlier, from when Harry knocked it all clean.

“Hey Diz, you know how our favourite pirate paid a visit earlier,” She started, sarcasm dripping from her words, “Does that happen often?”

“It depends. If my grandmother is down here he walks right in and straight back out again.” Dizzy said, laughing slightly. “That’s why they mostly come before we open at midnight.”

“And nobody has ever laid a finger on you, right?”

Dizzy looked over at Mal at that, smiling and shaking her head no. “You all might be gone and Uma may have taken your territory, but for some reason I think they believe if they touch me Evie and the rest of you will appear out of thin air and beat them to the ground.”

Mal laughed at that, agreeing.

“I really miss you guys having control of the territory here though. At least you let us kids help out in the schemes instead of just robbing us. I miss running around with you all.” Dizzy said, smiling when Mal put an arm around her shoulders.

“We miss it too, Diz. Evie especially. She talks about you all the time.”

Dizzy’s face lit up with a smile so much Mal thought it might break her face. “She does?!”

“You bet.”

Jay stood up then, holding the smoke bombs in a bag. “Five should be enough, right?”

Mal nodded in confirmation, picking up her bag to leave. “Alright Diz, we gotta go. You’ve been amazingly helpful, as always.”

Dizzy grinned again, stepping forward and handing Mal a few bracelets and tiaras. “When you get back to Auradon and see Evie, can you give these to her from me? It would make me so happy to know that she was wearing something of mine in Auradon. Almost like me being with her again.”

Mal put the jewellery into her bag, her once sure movements faltering with the heartbreak she knew would come for this precious child if Evie got hurt. She forced herself to nod, and put a smile on her face.

“Of course Dizzy. You’re going to make Evie’s whole month when she sees all of this.”

“And tell her I saved her scrapbook! I look at it every day. I just want to be as amazing as she is.”

Mal couldn’t help herself, and pulled Dizzy into her chest for a hug. Dizzy had everything good in her, and all the traits she recognised in Evie. They had to get her back, she had to be ok.

Jay ruffled Dizzy’s hair while she was in the hug, then nodded to the door.

“She’s gonna be ok.” He whispered, and Mal nodded, letting go of the hug.

“Bye Diz.”

“Bye guys.”

—————

Back in Auradon, Carlos stooped down to pick Dude up as he and Ben entered the hallway to Carlos and Jay’s room. “Sorry I’m so late Dude, Evie got captured.”

They were in such a rush to slip into the room and start preparing the 3D wand that they didn’t notice Lonnie overhearing what Carlos said and running off.

“Ok Carlos, work your magic.” Ben said, looking as Carlos started the printer off.

Carlos put Dude down, sent the image to the printer and then sat in the chair, sighing. “And now we wait.”

Ben nodded. “And now we wait.”

—————

“Mal, try and get some sleep.”

Mal stopped her pacing in the hideout for a second, briefly shooting Jay a glance before turning around and starting again. She worried her thumb in her mouth, biting at her nail.

“I can’t. How could I?”

“You know Evie would want you to.”

“Yeah. There’s a lot of things Evie wanted me to do.” Mal scoffed. “And I failed her on all of them.”

“Mal, you didn’t fail her.”

Mal stopped pacing outright at that, and turned on Jay. “Of course I did! I left Auradon, I left her! I left the best thing in my life because…because I’m a coward.”

“You were under pressure. It would have been more than any of us could handle.”

“So you don’t think coming here was a stupid idea?

  
Jay grinned a little. “Oh, it was definitely the stupidest idea you’ve had in a long time. And even more so if you didn’t think Evie would follow you. She had us cornered the second she knew what you’d done to bring you back.”

Mal nodded, unshed tears shining in her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. It was all so much. And I’m not good, I’m not. I couldn’t fake it for them anymore. Evie was so excited that we were being accepted, that I was meeting everyone, that people cared. And I couldn’t take that away from her.”

“You never need to fake for us Mal, we know you. Especially Evie.”

“I know!” Mal said, her voice shrill. “God if I could take it back, if I had only talked to her before acting on my flight instinct, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

She sighed, her whole voice and posture defeated as she stood before Jay. “I don’t deserve her.”

Jay shook his head, smiling sadly. He reached his hand out towards Mal, clasping hers when she took it. “You deserve the best. And Evie is the best, we all know that.”

That garnered a small smile from Mal. She let Jay sit her down next to him, holding onto the arm he draped around her shoulders.

“Uma’s out for revenge. You should have seen her at the shop, she was crazed. The last time I saw that hardened glint in her eye was when we claimed her territory. For better or worse, it’s what we did. And now Evie is suffering for our actions.” She sighed loudly. “I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to her. I can’t lose her Jay, she’s everything.”

Jay nodded, leaning his head on Mal’s. “I know Mal. We’ll get her back. We will.”

—————

Evie tried to contain her shudder as the harsh sea breeze blew onto her arms. Losing her jacket exposed her to the cold climate, and that paired with the harsh rope burns across her body made for an unpleasant time to say the least.

Not to mention, there was the smell of old fish and who knows what else that permeated every crevasse of the ship. It made Evie gag if she breathed in too deep. She had never enjoyed the pirate stench - it was associated with only bad memories (which was saying something on the Isle).

Then there was Uma’s crew who occasionally crowded around the pole, jeering. Evie held her head high, not willing to give the pirates what they wanted - a reaction. She had heard worse.

She was just beginning to wonder when something would happen when footsteps echoed on the wooden planks behind her, the crew scurrying away. Harry rounded on her with a jump, invading her personal space as he pressed against her, eyes hardened.

“Coochie coochie coo!” He taunted, his hook moving back and forth under her chin.

Evie pulled away with disgust, turning her head away from his direction. Harry only cackled as he moved his arm up the pole, resting it over her head.

“How does it feel being a Princess now, aye?”

Evie only stared back at him, as if to say ‘is that all you’ve got?’ Harry continued to laugh as he moved around the pole again, this time sneaking into her side and whispering in her ear.

“I could hurt you, you know.”

Evie, acting on instinct (for better or for worse), moved the only part of her body she had some sort of control of, and head butted Harry so hard he stumbled back into the railing. He yelled out, mostly in surprise, and when he had collected himself and looked like he would go back for more, Uma came over, laughing slightly.

“Give it a rest, Harry. Give it a rest.” She sat down on a step facing Evie. “It was always a mistake to underestimate her, even tied and bound to a pole.”

“You said that I could hook her.” He exclaimed, hook pointed at Evie who looked like she was trying not to see stars from the head-butt.

“I  _said_  at noon. Tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of time on our hands until then.”

Harry’s wicked grin was back, and he sat down beside Uma. “Who knows what fun we’ll have.”

Evie rolled her eyes, turning her head away from the both of them.

“Aw, what’s the matter Princess? Are we not the high and mighty you’re so used to dealing with now?” Uma taunted. “Hasn’t even been a year and you’ve already forgotten your roots?”

Garnering no response from Evie, Harry stood up and began yelling, his sword in the air. “What do we say mateys?!”

“We ride with the tide! Down with the Beast, long live evil!” Uma’s entire crew chanted back, from all corners of the dock and ship.

Evie chanced a look at all the pirates yelling, their swords in the air, the evil laughs they produced. She knew that mere months ago this was her, Mal, Carlos and Jay’s reality. And as much as she hated to admit it, she knew they thought they were completely in the right, just as much as the pirates did now.

Harry sneered. “You’re just as rotten as the rest of us, my dear.”

“You know,” Uma started speaking again, although Evie still wasn’t looking at her. “As much as I have been dreaming about a showdown with you vermin to get my revenge, I almost don’t want your little gang to show up. Think of the possibilities. We keep you here as our own, we throw you to the sharks…we let dear old Evil Queen know her precious baby is back.”

Having been so tied up with being captured, Evie hadn’t given her mother a second thought. The shock of Uma’s threat and the realisation that her mother had the power to definitely keep her trapped on the Isle, (even if Mal rescued her from Uma) was so great that she gave away her air of apathy and turned eyes-wide to Uma.

“Ah hah, there she is.” Uma had a wicked grin to match Harry’s. “That’s right, Princess. Your mother would be more than interested to know of your whereabouts. Do you remember the day those four traitors turned their backs on evil for good?” Uma said, addressing Harry.

“Over the sound of our disbelief, there was betrayal that pierced the whole Isle. Ah, you should have heard your dear old Mumsy, Evie. She was enraged. Vowed to teach you your place the second she got her hands back on you.” Harry got up, whispering close to Evie. “I heard she threw so much acid into your room that your entire bed melted, and she hasn’t stopped brewing it since.”  
Evie couldn’t contain her shudder as her skin moved uncomfortably, feeling all the scars on her body that the Evil Queen had dealt over the years.

“All of our parents are on the wrong end of the loony stick no doubt, but your mother has taken her perfectionism to a crazed level. Something tells me choosing good over evil was not on her check list.”

Evie shook her head at Uma’s words, trying to block them out. Adding her mother into the mix of everything that had happened this past day was too much for her to comprehend. She would throw herself overboard before she let her mother take her back, she couldn’t put herself through that torture again. She heard a ringing in her ears start, she felt the burn of her hands, arms and legs from the rope she had been trying to twist herself out from. This couldn’t happen, there was no way.

“Don’t tell her I’m back.”

Uma laughed, joining Harry in standing in front of Evie. “Aw, that’s cute.” She said, pinching Evie’s cheek. “And why should I not?”

“You won't get your wand if there’s nothing to trade. If I’m not here when Mal shows up, she’ll never let you have it.”

“You seem pretty confident that Mal is going to be able to get the wand. Isn’t that what you spent half a year trying and failing to do already?”

“She’ll get it. She’ll be here.”

Uma scoffed. “One stint in Twinkle Town and you’re so trusting. I remain unconvinced, but, you’re right. There is no wand for me if you aren’t here. So I won’t give word to the Evil Queen that you’re back.”

Evie closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief. She missed the smirk Uma then shared with Harry.

“But, you  _know_  how word gets around here on the Isle. And pirate crews were never the quiet-humble type in their conquests. So, who can say what might travel up to that castle of hers.”

The panic in Evie’s eyes came straight back. She did know how news travelled. And if Uma was being serious, not hell or high water would stop the Evil Queen from getting her back in her clutches.

“Uma, don’t let it happen.” Evie tried again, fighting against pleading.

Uma took another step forward so she was pressed against Evie. Not looking to being on the receiving end of a head-butt, she brought a gloved hand up to Evie’s neck, pinning her head back against the pole.

“You know, if want me to not do something, you better ask nicely.”

Evie swallowed, trying to breathe against the pressure on her throat. “Please, Uma. I’m asking you to not let it happen.”

Uma seemed to consider it for a few seconds, before her grip on Evie shifted. She moved her thumb along the fresh scar on her neck, pressing down hard. Her voice was low, and menacing. “Beg.”

A sharp cry left Evie’s mouth before she could stop it, the physical pain combining with her emotional distress. She knew she would have to swallow her pride and give Uma what she wanted, no matter how much she would despise doing so.

The hardened glint in Uma’s eyes reminded Evie of the showdown when they were 14, when Uma realised what had been taken from her. Evie knew this was only the beginning of the revenge, and didn’t want to drag it out at all.

“Uma, I’m begging you to not let my mother find out I’m back. There’s nothing in it for you if she takes me away. Mal will bring the wand for you. You can reign. Just please, please don’t let her know. I’m begging you Uma, please.”

By this point Uma had pressed so hard into Evie’s neck that her cut had opened up again, blood trickling down her front. She was clearly pleased with Evie’s response, and pulled away, watching as Evie’s head fell down and she tried to regain her breath.

“Ah, music to my ears.” Uma said in a sickly sweet voice.

When Evie’s eyes came back up to meet Uma’s, Uma brought her thumb up to her mouth and licked the blood off it, grinning maniacally. She stalked off with Harry, leaving Evie with her injuries and wrecked emotional state.

“Crazy bitch.” Evie muttered to herself.

—————

Back at the hideout, Jay soon realised after he talked with Mal that neither of them would be getting any sleep that night. Time had now passed into the very early hours of the next day, and he and Mal were currently lying side by side on the bed, staring up at the graffiti painted ceiling. They were tense, but the air around them was tranquil. That is, until they heard clanging on the sides of the wall and a soft scurry of footsteps climbing up.

Both Mal and Jay shot out of the bed, each grabbing the closest thing to them as a weapon. They looked at each other in shock and confusion at who could be up there. Mal had locked the downstairs entrance and even if someone knew the general location of their hideout, the room was almost impossible to find.

Jay was about to take action when they heard a series of taps on the wall outside, which was the secret code they had for each other.

Mal and Jay’s looks of confusion deepened. Mal wracked her brain to think of who could be outside. It wasn’t Carlos, as he was in Auradon with Ben. It couldn’t be Evie, although she wished it was. Apart from her and Jay, the only other person who knew the code was -

“Dizzy!” Jay exclaimed as he opened a window, lifting the younger girl into the room from the balcony outside. “You trying to give us a heart attack, kid?”

Dizzy stood where Jay placed her, looking down, shaking her head. Mal looked at her demeanour - the way her fists were clenched too tight, the way she wouldn’t look them in the eye, the sound of her too quick breathing - she knew the girl was doing everything she could not to cry.

“You heard about Evie.” Mal said, gently, understanding.

Dizzy nodded, and a sob broke out of her before she could stop it. She covered her mouth, and Mal softened even more.

Mal thought back to all the times she had seen Evie comfort the young girl after her bright spirit had been cracked by any one of her family members, but especially her grandmother, Lady Tremaine. She remembered how gentle Evie was with her, how special she made her feel. She remembered all the detours they would take to their destination so Evie (and ok, Mal too), could stop in to ‘Curl up and Dye’ just to make sure Dizzy was doing ok.

She remembered the countless hours she would spend, watching amusedly as Evie and Dizzy would parade around the room, modelling their latest designs. She remembered rolling her eyes as the two discussed travelling to far off places, away from the Isle. She also remembered feeling her heart glow at the way their eyes lit up when they dreamed of getting away.

She remembered the sinking feeling in her stomach when she found out that Dizzy didn’t have a room of her own, or even a proper bed to sleep on. She remembered not even letting Evie finish asking before agreeing to let Dizzy know the code to the hideout, so she too could find sanctuary here with them.

Mal put down the weapon she had picked up (a pot), and took a step towards Dizzy. “It’s ok to cry, Dizzy.”

Dizzy shook her head, hand still over her mouth. “You said villains don’t cry.” She squeaked out, even though Mal could see tears falling to the floor.

“Yeah,” Mal said, through a watery smile of her own. “And what did Evie always say straight after that?”

“To not listen to your big purple butt head.”

Mal let out a laugh, nodding. “That’s the one.” She took another step towards Dizzy and gently lifted her chin up, so her watery gaze could meet her own. “And we both know Evie is always right, huh? So we better listen to her.”

She had barely finished speaking before Dizzy threw her arms around her, sobbing. Mal wrapped her arms around the younger girl, holding her head to her chest.

Mal wasn’t sure how long they stood like that together. She used the genuine heartbreak of the child as an excuse to properly let out some of the emotions she herself had been bottling up. Both girls needed each other more than ever at that moment.

At some point Jay had moved over to them, wrapping an arm around Mal and resting one on Dizzy’s back, letting them lean their weight on him. They eventually sat down on the couch together, Dizzy ending up half on Mal’s lap as the older girl kept her arms around her.

Jay took Dizzy’s headphones off from around her neck so she would be more comfortable, smiling to himself when he remembered giving them to her on her 10th birthday. They had been ceremoniously splattered with paint not long after, which resulted in an all out paint war between the five of them.

Mal caught Dizzy’s attention, and kept her focus as she breathed in deeply a few times, making sure Dizzy copied her movements. When she was certain the younger girl had calmed some, she spoke again, in soft tones, that reminded her of the gentle whisper of Evie.

“It’s going to be ok. I want you to know that we’re doing everything we can to get her back. We’ve got a plan for the wand. There is no way that I would leave her with those stinky pirates.”

Dizzy let out a small watery laugh at the way Mal scrunched her nose up comically. “I know you wouldn’t.”

“And I’m sorry we didn’t tell you what had happened to her. I was just trying to protect you.”

Dizzy nodded, grasping Mal’s hand. “I know. I understand. I’m sorry this happened, it must be so scary for you.”

“You’re too good Diz.” Mal whispered, tucking a strand of her multicoloured hair behind her ears. “How did you find out?”

Taking a deep breath in, Dizzy’s gaze hardened to the extent that the bubbly girl’s demeanour could. “Some of Uma’s crew came into Curl up and Dye, they were due for appointments. They wouldn’t stop laughing about it. Bragging about it. They talked about the trade that would happen, and what Uma told them they got to do if it didn’t.” She started, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

Mal pulled the younger girl back into a hug, shushing her softly.

“They said terrible things. They said that Evie might look like an Auradon bitch now but…but…”

“It’s ok Dizzy,” Jay said, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Dizzy shook her head, wiping her eyes. “They said she might look like an Auradon bitch now but she was and always would be an Isle slut, and they would remind her of that if they had to. Mother and Grandmother only agreed. And they know how much Evie means to me!”

Both Mal and Jay fumed at the words, cursing every last pirate on the Isle. Mal looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath in to calm herself.

“I’m sorry Mal,” Dizzy said, putting her hands on Mal’s cheeks to look at her, “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I just thought you should know.”

Mal smiled sadly, putting her hands over Dizzy’s and tapping them softly. “This is a classic calm-down technique by Evie. You’re more like her than you know, Diz.” She said, garnering Dizzy’s only genuine smile of the night. “And you don’t have to be sorry for anything.  _I’m_  sorry that you had to hear that. It’s disgusting what they said, and I know how sad it must have been for your mother and grandmother to agree with it. You don’t deserve to be tormented like that.”

Dizzy nodded, letting the silence calm the room for a while before she hesitantly spoke again. “You don’t think it’s true, do you guys? About the threat the pirates made?”

Jay and Mal looked at each other, worry deep in their eyes. “There’s going to be hell to pay if it is.” Jay said as he let out a low breath, resting his head on his hand.

“I’m really worried about her.” Dizzy whispered, as she started welling up again. “I hope she’s not scared.”

Mal kept hold of Dizzy’s hands as she wrapped them around the girl, sinking into the couch and letting Dizzy rest her head on her shoulder. “I know babe. I’m really worried about her too. But you know what? Evie’s the strongest person I know.”

“Me too.” Jay chimed in.

“Me three.” Dizzy finished.

“That’s right. And if anyone can make it through this, it’s her. Have you ever seen Evie let someone do something to her that she didn’t want to?”

“No.”

“And even though she’s being held by the pirates, do you think she’s letting them off easy? Do you think she would give in?”

“No way.”

“No fucking way is right. Sorry Diz.”

Dizzy only giggled at Mal’s language, it reminding her of when Evie used to apologise to her for it.

“We’re going to go and show those assholes just who they messed with, we’re going to get Evie out of there, and then she’ll be back home, safe and sound.”

“In Auradon.” Dizzy sighed, a dreamy tilt to her voice which didn’t go unnoticed by Mal.

“And while we’re getting Evie back, you, little trouble maker, will be no where near Uma’s ship, ok?” Jay said, looking at Dizzy seriously.

“Maybe I can help.”

Mal shook her head adamantly, alongside Jay. “No Dizzy, no way in hell. Promise me, promise both of us right now that you won’t come near. It’s too dangerous and I can’t take the thought of you getting hurt as well.”

Dizzy finally relented, nodding back genuinely. “Ok, I promise I won’t.”

“Besides,” Mal said as she tightened her arms around Dizzy and felt the younger girl do the same as they all settled in, “You’re helping plenty, just by being here with us now.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked this chapter! I love the Dizzy/Evie relationship and I really wanted to play out how Dizzy and Mal would interact when the most important person in both of their lives was captured. Let me know what you guys thought, especially the Evie, Uma and Harry interactions! And be sure to let me know if you want to see anything in particular happen as the story progresses. There'll be lots more to come for sure.


	3. Plan

Back in Auradon, there was a tense wait. Despite the modifications Carlos had made to his 3D printer, it was quite literally going to be in his sleep that the wand would be made. Well, that would be if he could actually get to sleep. It had been more than a few hours since they had left the Isle, and Carlos watched the slow development of the wand as time passed.

Ben had succumbed to sleep about half way through the process, Carlos convincing him to get some rest if he could. They would need all the energy they could get for the showdown with Uma. 

_Uma_. Carlos thought darkly in his head. The reason they were in this mess in the first place. He was sick to his stomach with worry about what their arch nemesis was doing, or rather, what she could do, to Evie. Along with Harry Hook (who Carlos was sure had a few screws loose) and the rest of the pirate crew, he shuddered to think of the damage that could come to Evie if they weren’t careful. What he wouldn’t give to have his friend back with him, standing by his side once more. This plan had to work, it just had to.

“Stop thinking so loud, Carlos.”

Carlos almost jumped a foot in the air before he remembered that his dog could speak. Seriously, what was even up with that.

He looked over at Dude, who was sitting on the bed facing him. 

“Easier said than done, Dude.”

Dude jumped down from the bed, coming over to sit at Carlos’ feet. “I know you’re worried about Evie. But are you sure this plan will work?”  
  
“It has to. It’s our only shot at getting Evie back in one piece. And you know, you’re not really helping right now.”

Dude whined at that, gently nudging Carlos’ legs with his nose. Eventually Carlos picked him up, and he curled onto his lap. 

  
“I’m sorry, I’m a dog. I comfort humans with my presence, not my words.”  
  
Carlos let out a laugh, patting his fur. “Well then do that, Dude. Just be here.” He said, staring hard at the wand developing.

He didn’t move for a long time, and just as his eyes were burning from the gaze and he thought he couldn’t wait any longer, the machine beeped. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and slapped Ben’s arm a few times, waking him up. 

“Ben. Ben!”

“Hmm, what?” Ben said groggily as he sat up. His view first moved to Carlos, then when he saw what Carlos was staring at, he too looked at the printer, gaping. 

Carlos stood up just as Dude jumped off his lap, reaching into the printer to grab the wand. 

“Not bad.” He said, almost in disbelief at how real it looked. 

Ben had to agree, thinking that if he didn’t see the early stages of the printer making the wand, he would have been convinced Fairy Godmother had walked into the room herself and handed them the real thing. 

They both looked at each other, sleep and haze cleared from their eyes. A seriousness brushed over their features, and they hardened at the task in front of them. “Let’s go.”

Just as they were about to run out of the room, Dude’s voice yelled out.

“Hey guys! What about me?”

“No Dude, you stay.” Carlos said, pointing at the dog. “I’m serious. Stay!”

Dude whined and grumbled but eventually sat back down.

“I love you, buddy. We’ll be back before you know it!” Carlos yelled as they ran out, all the way to the back door of the school near the limo. They descended the stairs and just as they were about to turn, Lonnie showed up out of the blue with a bundle of swords at her back. Carlos and Ben skidded to a halt, Carlos holding the wand behind himself, out of sight.

“I’m coming with you guys.” Lonnie exclaimed, eyes shining bright.

Carlos and Ben both laughed nervously, as Ben moved his hands around, trying to come up with an excuse.

“What? We don’t need swords at the…the waffle hut.” He finished weakly, to raised eyebrows from both Carlos and Lonnie.

Lonnie sighed, shaking her head. “You’re going to the Isle to rescue Evie. Look, it’s either you take me, or, I’m gonna have to tell Fairy Godmother.”

Carlos and Ben looked at each other, at a loss. Ben made a split second decision and sighed, nodding his head in agreement. Lonnie’s expression grew in excitement, a squeal coming out of her mouth as she put her arms over both of their shoulders.

Carlos, however, was angry. He stopped and moved himself out from under Lonnie’s grasp, looking at her darkly.

“Do you think this is some sort of fun game? Do you think this is exciting?”

Lonnie’s expression dropped, her mouth opening at a loss of what to say. 

“Evie is being held hostage by pirates. Real, ruthless pirates. Not some gimmick in a suit with a sword at practice. Not some far off hero tale that you hear about as a kid. She will be injured. She could die. Any of us could. This is not exciting. This is not fun. This is the worst the Isle has to offer. You have no idea what it’s like.”

“I-I’m sorry Carlos. I didn’t mean -”  
  
“And how dare you give us an ultimatum like that.” Carlos continued, cutting Lonnie off. “If you tell Fairy Godmother, she’d never let us go back. And then what would happen to Evie? What would happen to Mal and Jay, who are counting on us to come through, counting on me? We don’t turn our backs on each other, especially in times like this. Don’t ever use Evie’s safety as an excuse for you wanting to get some adrenaline kick.”

Lonnie looked like she might cry at Carlos’ words. Her mouth still hung open, but her shoulders were deflated, as if she was embarrassed by what had happened. 

“Carlos,” Ben started gently, hands up. “I know Lonnie came off the wrong way. And I know she didn’t mean it like that. But we could use her, she has the skills we need. And we really have to go. Let’s sort it out on the way there, ok?”

Carlos eventually nodded, deflating a little himself as he started off to the limo. Ben put his hand on Lonnie’s shoulder, squeezing it in comfort as they followed after him. He gently shoved her in the direction of the back with Carlos, as he got into the drivers seat and started the journey to the water.

Lonnie looked at Carlos for a few uncomfortable moments before starting to speak quietly. 

“Carlos, about before. I…I’m so sorry. I would never intentionally hurt you, or Mal, Jay and especially Evie. You’re right, I have no idea what is out there, and what Evie and the rest of you are going through right now. I just wanted to help, and prove myself, prove that I am a good fighter. And by only thinking of myself I forgot that Evie is the only reason this is happening.” Lonnie shook her head at herself. “Can you forgive me?”

Despite Carlos wanting to stay angry, he never could at the well meaning, bubbly girl sitting in front of him. He was starting to see what Jay saw in her, and couldn’t help but think the two of them would make a great, ass kicking, sword swinging couple together. 

“Thanks Lonnie. I appreciate what you’re saying. Of course I forgive you. And _I’m_ sorry. I didn’t mean to say what I said with such malice. I’m worried and I’m angry, and I took it out on you. It wasn’t right. It’s just…I’m sick of hearing Auradon kids talk about the Isle like it’s some kind of exotic adventure. It’s a place no one should want to visit. It’s a place no one should be. If you even knew half of what we went through to survive…”

“Which I don’t, and I’m so sorry I made you feel that way.” Lonnie said hurriedly, wanting to make sure Carlos knew she understood him.

Carlos smiled gratefully, looking at her and speaking honestly. “I’m just so worried about Evie. She’s the best of us. She doesn’t deserve to be going through whatever those scumbags are putting her through. She’s my best friend - me, Jay and Mal. I don’t even want to think about Mal without Evie. It just isn’t right. We have to save her, Lonnie.”

Lonnie nodded, determined. “We will, Carlos. I promise I’ll do everything within my power to help.”

“And Lonnie? You don’t have to prove yourself. Anyone with half a brain knows you’re the best fighter Auradon could ever boast about. You have incredible talent, and the biggest heart. Auradon might be slow to the chase, but I’m from the Isle. We respect skill when we see it. I know Jay feels the same way.”

If Lonnie wasn’t already blushing from Carlos’ words, she definitely was at the mention of Jay’s name.

“Thanks Carlos. That was incredibly sweet of you to say.”

Carlos shrugged. “It’s easy, it’s the truth.”

Lonnie smiled once more, and then in the space of a second her demeanour switched from giggling school girl to the face of a warrior, eyes determined and strong. “Now, tell me what happened. How did Evie get captured, and how are we getting her back from these pirates.”

Eyes lighting up, impressed, Carlos let out a low whistle. He sat forward, ready to tell Lonnie the plan. “You certainly are your mother’s daughter.”

—————

“Did she get any sleep?”

“Just in the last hour or so I think. She eventually wore herself out. Just in time, too.” Mal replied to Jay as she sat on the edge of the bed where Dizzy was asleep in the hideout. If they were back in Auradon, the first glimmer of sunlight would be streaking into the sky. But here on the Isle, they could only know the signs of dawn approaching by the slight change in the clouds moving from black to a less dark grey.

“She’s got it in for her when she gets back home.” Jay said.

“I know. She told me she said to Lady Tremaine that she was just going to take the trash out. She’s more than a few hours late.” Mal laughed, gently stroking some hair out of Dizzy’s face.

“One sign of Evie in danger and that Isle bad streak comes out in her.”

“Yeah,” Mal replied. “We’ve taught her well.”

“Dizzy can handle her olds. As long as she knows Evie is home safe, she can handle anything.” Jay said as he walked over to the window, looking out to the sea.

Mal nodded, looking at Jay for a while before she spoke. “Are you worried about your Dad finding out you’re back here?”

Jay turned to face her, his face deep in thought. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. That’s the last thing I want or need to deal with right now. Getting Evie back is more important than the possibility of me running into him. But it’s a pretty unsettling feeling, that’s for sure.”

“You know you’re stronger than anything he could pull to try and get you to stay, don’t you? You belong in Auradon, Jay. You shine so bright there.”

Jay shot a small smile to Mal at her words, nodding. “Yeah. It’s just not something I want to have to face, you know? Once we get Evie back, I’m perfectly happy with my life going on as it was, with the Isle far out of sight. And with you there with us.”

A grimace appeared on Mal’s face as she was reminded of why they were there in the first place. “I’m never leaving Evie again. I don’t care where she is. Here, Auradon, even Never Neverland. I’d follow her anywhere. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Jay moved to squeeze her shoulder gently, in a comforting way. “You won’t have to. You’ll be able to do all that and more.” He moved back over to the window he was looking out of before, staring at Auradon far in the distance. “I wonder how Carlos and Ben are getting on.”

“Well whatever they’re doing, I hope it’s happening fast. I want to have some time to set up a plan.”

Jay laughed. “What, just to see it go to shit as soon as we walk onto the ship?”

“Of course. It’s not a poorly made Isle plan if it actually succeeds. The trick is to convince yourself it’s actually going to work, walk in with a false sense of confidence, then wing it till you’ve somehow won.” Mal grinned, sharing the expression with Jay. They both thought back to their many heists, both failures and successes, and for better or worse what they learnt from them. 

They were sure Evie was sitting tight, if nothing else at least safe with the knowledge that they were going to bring fire and fury to get her back.

—————

Well, Evie was definitely sitting tight. The ropes across her hands, arms, torso and legs felt like they were now indented into her skin from how tight they were burning. She had been a shivering mess for hours, the cold sea spray and wind taking its toll. Her teeth had started chattering and she had to force them to stop, especially when Uma’s crew decided they were bored and crowded around her. 

Evie swore she was never going to take clean smelling places for granted again. These pirates _stank._ Their breath, their clothes, their foul smelling home-brewed rum. (Auradon didn’t let alcohol pass through the barges onto the Isle, so people have had to get creative). (And by creative, it meant terrible equivalents to alcohol that tasted disgusting and did nothing to buzz your body apart from disgruntle your insides). Yet, the pirates treasured their horrid creation, and it sloshed all around Evie as they drank it.

After one particularly retching odour of breath flew past Evie’s nose, she scrunched her face up, speaking in disgust. 

“Would you mind taking your foul drink, and your entire foul being for that matter, somewhere else? You’re making it really hard for me to be a comfortably held hostage.” 

She had gotten some of her confidence back after Uma and Harry had stayed away for the last few hours, and she decided to give the pirates a little of what they were giving her back. The pirate she was referring to stopped, confused by the insult wrapped up in humour. When it finally clicked in his brain what she had said to him, a wicked smirk came on his face. He saddled right up to Evie, putting a hand on the pole by her head.

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” He slimed out, taking a big gulp of his drink and burping right in her face.

This had captured the attention of the rest of the crew who had gathered around, cheering him on. Evie had accidentally inhaled and the stench made her cough, her nose still scrunched up in distaste. 

Another pirate had soon joined the man in front, an equally unsettling smirk on his face.

“Now, now. Where are your manners? This isn’t Evie from the Isle anymore, this is Evie from Auradon.” He said with a jeer and grabbed Evie’s face in his hand, gripping either side of her mouth. “We share our drink with such esteemed guests.” 

Before she could retort or figure out a way to stop what was about to happen, the second pirate had lifted up his drink and poured it into her mouth. She coughed as she tried to get rid of the foul liquid. When the pirate had finished his brag to the rest of the cheering crew and came back to circle her, she acted on instinct, spitting it in his face.

Her actions were met with mixed results. Some of the crew cackled, some made noises of anticipation but many just went silent. The pirate stood still, looking at the ground, and slowly brought up his hand to wipe the liquid off his face.

Evie bit the bottom of her lip, pulling it inside her mouth. She wasn’t going to let them pull that stunt again. She held her head high, looking at the pirate move towards her again.

“I _said_ , we share our drink with our guests.” He growled out, and before anyone knew what was happening, his fist flew out from under him, sucker punching Evie right in the gut.

The sheer force, intensity and surprise of the punch hit Evie like a ton of bricks, and she gasped out, wanting to buckle over in pain. The ropes around her pulled her back, and so she was left sagging against the pole, her legs having momentarily given out from the impact of the punch. Her mouth flew open, pulling in as many breaths as her constricted chest would allow before the pirate pushed the bottle back into it. He emptied a good amount of rum in and then proceeded to slap his hand over her mouth, forcing it to stay. Evie, still dealing with not being able to breathe, choked with the liquid in her mouth, having no where for it to go. She eventually had to force herself to swallow it so she could attempt to breathe through the pirate’s coarse hand. 

After what felt like forever, and what almost made Evie pass out, the pirate eventually removed his hand from Evie’s mouth. She keeled over as much as the ropes would allow her to, spluttering and heaving in gulps of air, trying not to wince at the piercing pain in her ribs every time she coughed. Her attempt at recovery didn’t last long, however, as the pirate then pulled her back upright by her hair, his wicked grin back on his face as he heard the cheers and cackles of delight from the crew behind him.

“Whoops. You missed some.” He said, and pulled Evie’s hair tight as he licked some of the rum off the corner of her mouth that had spilled out. 

Evie snarled at his actions and pulled her head as far away from him as she could, cursing him all the while. She considered spitting in his face again and almost did before a blur of blue dropped in front of her.

At the sight of Uma, the pirate holding Evie stepped back, but not before letting her hair go by pushing her head hard back against the pole. He tipped his pirate hat at Uma, and his grin grew when she shared the same expression. Uma held out her hand, and his bottle of rum was instantly handed over to her as she rounded on Evie, taking centre stage.

Any confidence that Evie had had mere minutes ago had now fully dissipated. She didn’t enjoy the feeling of being manhandled or groped, but she would take that over being deprived of oxygen. She had no idea what time it was, no idea what Uma really wanted, and no idea of what was coming next. The feeling of not being in control of her own fate wasn’t something she was used to, and it was growing past irritability and moving to genuine fear. 

Evie knew by the look on Uma’s face that she had watched the entire altercation, and had specifically chosen now to intervene when she was at her weakest. The pirate tilted her head to the side, her eyes glinting, and held out the bottle to Evie.

“You want some more?”

Evie shook her head vehemently, trying to move away from the bottle even though she couldn’t move anywhere.

Uma stepped forward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. You do want some more?”

“No.”

“Now, now, Princess. Where are the manners those uptight morons taught you? The manners your dear mother drilled into you, just so you could please a man?” Uma shook her head, grinning. She stepped closer to Evie, whispering into her ear. “You’re too good for any man, but I bet you could please me, couldn’t you, Princess.”

Evie shook her head again, closing her eyes tight. “No thank you.”

Uma laughed, breath flying into Evie’s ear. “And I could please you, better than Mal ever could, better than anyone ever will.”

A harsh wind breezed past the deck at that moment and goosebumps raised on Evie’s arms, her full body shivering in the cold and her teeth chattering. “No. You wouldn’t. You couldn’t. You’re wrong.”

“Hmm. While you stay here, shaking and shivering like a helpless little girl, just think about whose body could be keeping you warm.” Uma said flippantly as she moved away, her hand coming up to Evie’s mouth and thumb trailing along the length of her bottom lip, tugging slightly. “I’ll see you later, Princess.” She purred, as Evie snarled again, jerking her head out of her touch. Uma just cackled in sick delight as she turned and walked away, waving her crew off with a flick of her arm. 

Looking off the ship back to the Isle, Evie felt the panic that had been laying low in her rise to its full extreme. Every breath she took she felt her bruised ribs piercing her lungs. She needed Mal. She needed Jay and Carlos. She needed to see them here, to be with them, to be back in Mal’s warm arms. She chanced a look down at where she could see the ropes cutting into her skin. Her fingers felt frozen in place, the skin under the rope on her arms was a harsh red and purple. 

She had spent enough time being a pawn in Uma’s game, and she was ready to be off this Isle, and never, ever return.

—————

A few hours had passed since dawn, and the occupants of the hideout were still in the same positions. Dizzy was still asleep, Mal sitting on the bed beside her, and Jay was pacing by the windows. 

Mal had her spell book in her lap, as she had been desperately memorising every healing spell it had in there. She hoped she was being irrational, and that she wouldn’t have to use any of them, but she wanted to be ready. She knew Jay had seen what she was doing as well, but was glad when he didn’t comment on it, both of them not wanting to have a conversation about the likelihood of Evie making it out unscathed.

Mal also held Evie’s jacket in her lap, and was running her hands over it softly. She thumbed the hole that was pierced through the back of it, hoping it didn’t catch on Evie’s skin. She turned it to the collar, hating the blood she saw there but also not being able to look away. She couldn’t take her mind off what could be happening to her, what she was being put through. Mal had realised that she would be freezing, having no protection from the cold without her jacket. She had already tightly packed an extra layer in her bag for Evie to wear when they rescued her, to counter her cold.

Just when Mal thought she would go crazy if she looked at the jacket a second longer, Jay raced right up to the window.

“Mal, Mal! They’re coming, I see the limo.”

Mal jumped up and raced to the window beside him, squinting her eyes to see the start of the gold road as the limo left the shores of Auradon. She breathed a sigh of relief, and they set to work.

“Dizzy…Dizzy.” Mal said gently as she sat back on the bed, running her hand across her head. “It’s ok, it’s ok. It’s just me.” She added as Dizzy woke up, her eyes shooting open as she looked around the room frantically.

“What’s happening?” She asked sleepily, taking her glasses when Mal handed them to her.

“Carlos and Ben are on their way back. We can see the car driving across the ocean.”  
  
“You can?!” Dizzy exclaimed excitedly, jumping out of the bed to have a look for herself. She pressed her nose to the window, seeing them break through the magic barrier in awe. “Wow.”

“We’re going down to meet them. I figured you might want to come and say hi to Carlos, and meet Ben?”  
  
“The real King Ben?” Dizzy asked Mal, with a wondrous expression.

“You got it Diz. Now let’s go.” Jay said, ushering them all out quickly. 

They raced down the hide out and crept through the streets, sticking to as low a profile as they could. They watched as the limo drove in slowly, parking in a secluded area behind the buildings. Before the car had come to a complete stop, the back door flew open, and Carlos raced out, closely followed by -

“Lonnie?” Mal asked out loud when she saw her exit the car after Carlos. She hugged her straight after Carlos, and saw Jay do the same.

“I made them bring me.”

“I’m so glad.” Mal said genuinely, appreciative for the back up.

“Welcome to the Isle. It’s good to see you.” Jay said to Lonnie, arm around her shoulders. They both shared a look of understanding and knew what they had yet to face was bigger than whatever was simmering between them. 

“Ben, hey.” Mal and Jay greeted him with grateful hugs as he too, got out of the limo and joined them.

“Carlos!” 

“Dizzy!”

Dizzy hugged Carlos tight, laughing when he spun her around. Carlos had always been the one most ready and likely to run around and act like a silly kid with her, and they had always shared a special bond for it.

“Ok Diz, ready to meet some friends? This here is Lonnie, daughter of Mulan.”

Dizzy’s eyes lit up at Mal’s words as she waved at Lonnie. “That’s so cool! Do you really have a talking pet lizard?”

Lonnie waved back and laughed. “I would have paid to have Mushu here to hear you say that. He’ll be glad to know he’s being remembered this way.”

“And this,” Mal continued, “Is King Ben.”

“It’s an honour.” Ben said as he stepped forward, holding out his hand. When Dizzy put her hand into his he kissed it, making her blush and step behind Mal a little bit.

“Lonnie and Ben, this is Dizzy. Drizella’s daughter. She’s like our little sister. And, the single most important thing to all of us, especially Evie, that is left here on the Isle.”  


“And because of that, she is going to head back to her Grandmother’s shop right now. Aren’t you, Diz.”

“Yes Jay, I promised.”

Mal smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “That’s our girl.” She pulled Jay and Carlos in to them together, speaking softer. “Now Diz, I don’t know how this is going to play out. We’re going in at 12, and that’s all we know for sure. Trust me when we say we are not leaving without Evie. She’ll be safe and sound back with us, so you don’t have to worry about her ok?”  
  
Jay nodded, agreeing. “Are you sure you’ll be able to handle Lady Tremaine? I don’t think she’ll be welcoming you with open arms after last night.”  
  
Carlos shot a confused look to Mal, and she whispered, “Diz found out about Evie and left in the middle of a shift at Curl Up and Dye. She spent the night with us in the hideout. Little rebel. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder.”

“I’ll be fine Jay. Nothing I can’t handle.”  
  
Carlos rolled his eyes at Mal fondly when she clapped her hand over her heart, a proud expression on her face. He ruffled Dizzy’s hair. “Ok Diz, on you go. Be safe for us.”

Dizzy nodded, hugging him goodbye tight. She did the same to Jay. She then turned to Mal and gave her the biggest hug of all.

“Some of that hug was for Evie too, Mal. Please get her back safe. And when you do, don’t ever stop hugging her. For like a whole week. Because she said to me once that your hugs were her favourite thing. And I think she’ll need a lot of them.”

Mal laughed, determined to not let the tears in her eyes fall out. “I will Dizzy, I promise. Evie is going to be fine. And she’s going to be so proud of you. We all are. I wish we could take you with us. But promise you’ll be strong for us here?”

“I promise.”

“We’re always thinking of you Diz. Don’t ever forget you’ve got people who love you. Now go on, straight back home.”

Dizzy gave them all a smile, waving as she turned around. They watched her glue herself to the walls as she walked, looking around her before she turned the corner. They had taught her well. 

“Oh my god, she is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” Lonnie exclaimed, hand on her heart.

“She’s Drizella’s daughter?” Ben said in disbelief, watching the sweet girl run back home.

Mal nodded. “Yeah. She's too good for this place huh? But unfortunately, not our biggest concern right now.”

Ben and Carlos nodded, running to the back of the limo to pull out the swords.

“Dude?!” Ben exclaimed, seeing the dog under the blankets as he pulled out the swords.

“I told you to stay!”

“I flunked obedience class.” Dude replied to Carlos.

“Great, and he can still talk.”

Carlos nodded at Ben’s words as he reached into the car to pull out the dog and grab the wand. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“Oh, let me see.” Mal said excitedly as she reached out for the wand in Carlos’ hand. “Wow, what a beauty. You guys did good, she’ll never know.”

“But what if she tries it.”

“The key word there, Ben, is ‘if’.” Mal said, slipping the wand into her pocket. “We’re going to avoid that at all costs. And if we can’t…we wing it. Isle style.”

“Let’s get back to the hideout. We can get a feel for these swords which I hope we won’t have to use, and we can make a plan.” Jay said, to everyone’s agreement.

“Everyone follow me.” Mal murmured, moving along the streets. “The Isle is not very forgiving, and won’t be for the the two of you especially.” She said to Lonnie and Ben as they rounded another corner, thankful the hideout was only a short trip from the limo. She reached the entrance and picked up a rock, ready to throw it at the sign. “We lay low, make a plan, then get Evie the hell out of here.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are heating up! the next chapter is the rescue, so we're saying goodbye to dizzy for a while. but I hope you're all ready for all our faves to face each other in the showdown! if you thought uma was bad now, just you wait! 
> 
> let me know what you thought of the chapter and what you think will/want to happen! you guys are awesome :)


	4. Rescue

The last few hours before noon were pure torture for Evie. Uma, Harry and the rest of the pirate crew seemed to have picked up on that. Evie wasn’t sure what the exact time was, but she figured it must be close to noon because of how restless and loud the crew were being. At least one person was on guard at all times at the entrance of the dock, waiting to see a head of purple or white, or a beanie, indicating they had arrived. 

If Evie were being honest, she had taken to staring at the entrance as well, desperately hoping for a sign she would be saved. She was snapped out of her trance when Harry jumped into her space, startling her. He let out a cackle, and swung a pocket watch in front of her face, peering into it mockingly.

“Twenty more minutes.”

Evie’s eyes widened, both in relief and shock. If it was only twenty more minutes, that meant Mal would be here soon. Although, if it was only twenty more minutes, they were cutting it pretty fine. She looked at the watch to see for herself, and when she saw the time, her eyes narrowed. 

“That says 11:30.”

Harry pulled away, making a sound of interest. Evie couldn’t figure out if he had just said twenty more minutes to taunt her, or whether he genuinely couldn’t read the time. Surely the son of Captain Hook could read the time. She didn’t have too long to ponder on it, however, because Uma started speaking again.

“You better hope your girlfriend comes through.”

“She will.”

“You know what I don’t get?” Uma said, head tilting to the side as if the thought had just popped into her head. “What are you all even doing back here? And why is your precious king here too?”

Evie hesitated to answer Uma, not willing to give her more ammunition than she already had. She looked away, and Uma made a sound of intrigue.

“Oh, so there is more to this story than I thought. Come on Princess, you may as well spill. You know I’m going to hear it if I want to, either way.” She said, flashing the knife in her pocket for good measure.

If she had done that to Evie at the start of this whole ordeal, Evie would have rolled her eyes and fired some retort at her. But it had been more than 12 hours on this cold, stinky, wretched ship. Evie hadn’t even recovered from the emotional shock of Mal leaving before she was swept up in this. She was a mess, and she had been broken.

  
She let out a sigh of defeat, turning to Uma to answer her. Uma raised her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn’t expected Evie to give up without a fight. She smiled to herself, knowing she had her right where she wanted her.

“We’re here because we were trying to get Mal to come back to Auradon.”

“Mal left Auradon? Mal, who turned her back on evil, came back to the most evil place?” Harry exclaimed, sitting beside an equally shocked Uma. 

“Why?”

Evie doesn’t know why she kept talking. Uma and Harry had done nothing but terrorise her for hours on end. They didn’t deserve to know what happened. But the words fell out, answering Uma’s question. She couldn’t stop herself.

“It’s all my fault. She and Ben were on a royal tour of the kingdom, and if I had only looked past Mal wanting to make me happy, I would have seen she was miserable. The pressure of being good every second of her life was too much. So, she left me a note, and then she was gone.”

Uma gasped like a school girl hearing the juiciest drama of the morning. “Wait. So you’re _not_ together? She’s not your girlfriend anymore?”

Evie shook her head in frustration, tears pricking at her eyes. “She _is_. Mal didn’t think what she was doing through. If she had talked to me I would have told her to stop the tour. I would have done anything for her. I came back _here_ for her. We did not break up.”

“Hmm, sounds like a break up to me, wee Princess.”

Uma grinned, then flicked her head at Harry. “Leave us alone Harry. But, stay close.”

Harry sighed, but did as Uma said. As he walked past Evie he dangled the watch in front of her face again. “Nineteen minutes to go now.”

“Go.” Uma ordered again, as Evie rolled her eyes at him. “So. Mal couldn’t hack Auradon, aye?”

“That’s not what happened.”

“Sounds to me like King Ben picked the wrong VKs to take. It hasn’t even been a year and you’re already crawling back to this rotten hole.”

“Like you would have been any different.”

“You don’t know a thing about me. Not all of us are stupid enough to throw away a chance like Auradon.”

Evie shook her head again, looking at Uma. “Look, I get you don’t deserve this. None of us do. That’s why Ben brought us over, that’s the whole point.”

Uma laughed, leaning back on the step she sat on. “‘This’,” She said, shaking her head in disbelief. “That same King’s father made this island a prison for us.”

“Don’t talk to me about this place like I don’t know what it does to you, Uma. I was raised here too.”

“Yeah, and then you got your little ass saved and never looked back for any of us. Don’t pretend to look out for anyone but your crew. Don’t act like you’re better than any of us. Don’t pretend that you actually give a shit. No one is looking out for us. It’s just us.” Uma said bitterly, gesturing to the crew walking around the ship. 

“At least you have your Mom.” Evie said darkly.

Uma scoffed. “My Mom doesn’t care about me either. Well, unless she needs someone for the night shift.”  
  
“Ouch.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity, Uma. It’s understanding. For all the differences that villain kids have, at least we can all agree that our parents suck.”

Uma laughed bitterly. “They ‘suck’? Is that really the best that Auradon has to give?”

“Our parents have us to use us, to control us. To carry out their wishes, to fulfil their evil schemes. On Auradon and here as well. We don’t get a say, we don’t have any agency, they just tell us and we do. And if we don’t? Well we all have the scars to prove how that song goes.” Evie said, treading lightly on the subject of their past altercations. “If we had a choice when it came to our parents control, who knows how things might have ended up, especially for you.”

Uma seemed to be considering what Evie had to say, until her last statement. She stood up, snarling, getting in her space. “Like I said before, I don’t need your pity.”

Evie’s stomach dropped at Uma’s anger, and she knew she had to make a decision. She had tried being sincere. She was done with being the helpless victim. So she tried to take some of the control back that she had lost. Her next words came out, a lighter, more flirtatious tone to them.

“No you certainly don’t. You’re very resourceful.” Evie said, smiling to herself when she saw Uma’s head tilt in interest. “I don’t see you tied up.”

Uma laughed, clearly not trusting Evie, but definitely more interested. “Alright. So let’s trash talk Mal.”

Ok, this was not heading in the direction Evie wanted it to go. “I’d rather talk about you.” She said, with a hint of a smirk.

Uma grinned, gripping Evie’s chin and thumbing her lip again. Evie had to resist the urge to pull away. “Hmm. Funny and gorgeous. And oh so in touch with the deep down mommy issues.” She turned, pulling Evie’s lip as her hand left her face. “I’d really hate to have to feed you to the fishes, Princess.” 

“I mean, you don’t!” Evie said quickly, seeing Uma’s head tilt in interest again even though she was turned around. “Set me free and we’ll both go back together.”

At that, Uma let out her biggest laugh yet, and put a hand to her head, shaking it. She almost spun around in anger, and then seemed to think better of it, unclenching her fists and breathing in deep. When she did come to face Evie again, she had a seemingly sweet smile on her face, though Harry, looking on in the distance, could tell better.

“Together?”

“Together.”

Uma pulled a knife out of her pocket, and expertly twirled it around her fingers, at first making Evie gulp. However, Evie then saw Uma crouch down and grip the rope that tied her legs to the pole. 

“I know you said that you and Mal didn’t break up, but, we both know that she isn’t actually going to go back to Auradon if she ran away here. So that’s why you want me to come with you, right?”

Evie seemed to rethink her words, but didn’t have time to comprehend a smarter answer than just nodding hesitantly as she kept her eyes trained on Uma, who was holding a knife very close to her skin. 

“So you mean to say that if I set you free, you could take me back with you to Auradon.”

A faster nod came from Evie this time.

“You would really do that for me?”

Another nod, and a gulp, as Uma brought the knife up, holding it at the rope on her legs. Evie almost gasped in shock when Uma cut through the rope in one sharp slice. She never thought Uma would actually start to set her free. Sure, there were still ropes tying her feet and hands together, and rope around her waist and arms tying her to the pole, but it was a step forward. Maybe her plan of letting Uma think she had a chance was working. She decided to test it out more. 

“You know, Uma. What you were saying before. I know Ben didn’t mean to hurt those he didn’t pick. He had planned to start with the four of us, and then bring the rest of you over. But he got so side tracked with the tour, and being…king.” Evie finished weakly, not even really convincing herself of her words. “But you shouldn’t be overlooked. You’re a leader, Uma. A powerful leader. The strongest here. Who else could control what you have?”

Evie knew it was a risk bringing up territory, and she looked away as she said it, not willing to see her reaction. She knew that the reason Uma was so ruthless and cunning was because she had clawed her way back up after they stole her territory from her. But showering her in praise had worked once before, and Evie was desperate, so it had to work again. 

Maybe if Evie wasn’t so desperate, she would remember that those were the exact words she had spoken to Uma when they were 14. When she snuck the information Uma gave her back to Mal, Jay and Carlos, and when they took everything from her. Evie had forgotten, but Uma certainly hadn’t.

  
“Come to Auradon and be part of the solution.” Evie finished, and chanced a look up at Uma’s face.

It was a big mistake. 

Uma was glowering. She held the same malice in her expression as she did when she realised she lost the territory. 

“You know what’s funny?” Uma growled out as she stepped closer to Evie, making her jump when she slammed the knife into the wooden pole above her head. “You’ve barely looked at me this entire time. You haven’t said one nice thing. Everything about your demeanour suggests you’d throw me overboard any chance you got. And then,” Uma continued as she stalked around Evie, “At the first opportunity you see to try and play me to get out of this, you take it. Gee, I wonder why I’m getting an invitation to Auradon mere minutes before your little girlfriend is supposed to be showing up. I wonder why you suddenly seem interested in me, and being with me. And I especially wonder why you think I’m so dumb that I would fall for the same trick twice, the same trick that cost me everything.”

Evie whimpered as Uma shoved her shoulder, emphasising her point. It was then she realised the pirate captain had never bought her attempt to play her out of the situation. She was the one who had been played by Uma. 

“I was going to let you play your little game, let you think you were one-upping me again. But you really just fucked it up for yourself, Princess.” Uma spat as she stood in Evie’s space, bearing down on her. “When you, Mal, Carlos and Jay left for Auradon, I thought that would be the maddest I was ever going to be. I’ve been plenty mad. But seeing you have a better life leaving us in the dust? That feeling didn’t even come _close_ to the rage I felt seeing you, Mal, Jay and Carlos strip everything I had worked for away from me those years back. Seeing you so easily take what I had earned, what I had worked from the bottom for. I will never forget how that made me feel. And my mother certainly didn’t let me forget either.” She muttered darkly, pulling up the sleeve on her jacket to reveal a grotesque arm length burn, most likely from a stove top or deep fryer.

Evie grimaced at the sight, but Uma carried on. 

“Seeing you standing at Mal’s side, staring at me as you watched me fall from power. Realising how easily I had fallen for your tricks. How stupid and pathetic that school girl infatuation was…” Uma shook her head at herself, the memory burned into her mind forever. It made her sizzle with anger just thinking about it. “You can whore yourself out once, Princess, but you cannot do it again. The fact that you thought it could work a second time really just shows how much of a…what was it your mother called you? That’s right, it shows how much of a _dumb slut_ you really are.”

Uma’s words cut Evie deep for more reasons than one, and she was mad. She knew she was done for the second she realised Uma had caught on to her plan, and she knew judging by Uma’s face that whatever was coming wasn’t going to be good. She could level with Uma, and try to be civil, but what part of this entire ordeal had Uma been civil with her? Her body ached as a reminder, so to hell with it, she thought, and decided to give Uma every last bit she had left.

“Spare me the dramatics, Uma. You don’t even want to imagine what Maleficent had threatened if we didn’t stop your rise. You know we never want to carry out our parents’ schemes, but we had to.” Evie said darkly. “And don’t forget, it was this dumb slut who you were so desperate to have any attention from that you gave away all your secrets in one sitting. You may think I’m a slut, but at least I’m not a pathetic little shrimp.”

  
The smack came faster and harder than Evie was expecting, right across her face. Uma’s many rings clipped her in multiple places - one in the eye, the other cutting her lip. 

“Don’t you dare.”

“Why not? Can’t hack it? You think you’re so much better than Mal but you’re not. One sign of something you don’t like and it’s straight to a rash decision. You just lash out. You know, for someone who hates being played, you really have no poker face. That’s why you’ll never be a leader, and you’ll never make it off this Isle.”

A second smack had Evie’s head ringing, and the side of her face bristling with the start of numbness. She barely had time to recover before Uma pulled her head back harshly by her hair, growling into her ear.

  
“When I get that wand, you better hope you’re no where near me. Because I won’t have mercy. You won’t be able to stop me. The whole world will know my name.”

Evie didn’t know why she kept talking. She could taste blood in her mouth, and she wasn’t particularly fond of it. But she was mad, and her mouth was running on its own. “Yeah, ‘ _Shrimpy_ , _destroyer of worlds_ ’. I can see it now.” 

Seriously, why did she keep talking?

Uma yelled in frustration, and as scared as it made Evie, she couldn’t help but feel smug deep down that she read Uma so well. The girl really needed to get her temper in check if she wanted to do anything effectively. 

The smug feeling was gone as soon as Uma pulled the knife out of the wood above her head, twirling it in her fingers again. “Typical. The whore doesn't know when to close her mouth. You’re standing here, tied up, completely at my mercy. Yet there you go, running your mouth, acting like Mal is going to swoop right up to this pole and save you. Well, let me enlighten you for a quick second.” Uma drawled out as she swung her fist into the exact same spot that the pirate had before. 

The punch winded Evie, who spent the next minute gasping for breath in front of a smirking Uma. 

“I’ve watched you this entire time.” Uma continued, pressing into the spot in Evie’s gut with her thumb, digging at the rib she knew was at least fractured, if not completely broken.

“I know where you’re hurting.”

Evie, having barely caught her breath, gasped in pain again as Uma pulled the ropes around her waist and bare arms tighter, deepening the bruises and welts that were already there.

“I know every weak spot.”

The cut in Evie’s neck never stood a chance as Uma’s knife flicked at it, opening it back up. 

“There’s a whole ship between us, and right where Mal is going to walk to. And if you think I’m letting you go just like that, then you don’t know me at all. You may have noticed I’m one for dramatics. And this, I think, will be my best show yet.” She said with a wicked grin on her face, pinching Evie’s split lip harshly.

  
Evie couldn’t stop the flow of tears that ran down her face, the first since she had been there, at the action. It triggered a tense level of pain that she couldn’t hold back, but she hated that Uma saw the tears as a victory. 

“Rot in hell.”

Uma just laughed at Evie’s words as she waved Harry back over. She threw the knife back into the wood above Evie’s head as she pulled out another from her belt, a smaller, shinier one. “Oh honey, we already are.”

—————

Back from the hideout and standing at the edge of the tunnel, Mal, Jay, Carlos, Ben and Lonnie looked at each other seriously.

  
“It’s noon.” 

Mal nodded at Jay’s words, mustering up the false confidence she always needed to convince herself she would be successful in her mission. “Alright. Are we ready?”

Everyone nodded and Carlos held up the bag of smoke bombs. “Yeah.”

“Good. Let’s do -”

Before Mal could finish her sentence, a horrible sound reverberated throughout the tunnel from Pirate’s Bay. All the colour drained from Mal’s face, and as she looked to everyone else, they faired the same. There could be no mistaking what they just heard - that was Evie’s scream. 

“Evie.” Mal whispered in horror as she jumped into the tunnel, just in time to hear another scream. She took one last look back at her friends and took off into a sprint towards the ship.

“Mal!” Ben called after her, but was immediately pulled forward by everyone else, all of them sprinting after her so she wouldn’t get ambushed as soon as she got there.

Mal could barely think straight as she ran, willing herself faster every scream she heard. Whatever she was expecting when the dock and ship finally came into sight, nothing could have prepared her for the wave of emotions that near bowled her over when she saw Evie.

Uma and Harry were standing in the middle of the ship, facing the dock with a kneeling Evie between them. Mal could see Evie’s hands and feet were still tied together, and that there were rope burns across her arms. She could see the wound on her neck, and her bruised face. But she wasn’t looking at any of that. She was only looking at Harry holding Evie in place by her hair, and Uma, holding Evie’s chin with a small knife at her hand, cutting into Evie’s perfect skin.

“Evie!” Mal yelled, garnering the attention of everyone on the dock and ship. She had run right onto the dock, stopping as soon as she crossed the bridge from the tunnel, the rest of her friends arriving seconds later.

They all let out gasps of shock and horror at seeing what Uma was doing to Evie, but they knew they had to get closer to really know what was going on.

Evie looked up from where she was held by the pirates, tears flowing down her face, desperation in her eyes. She was battered and broken, but when she made eye contact with Mal it was like the world started spinning the right way again.

The pirates jeered at the sight of them, swinging around the ropes above the ship, swords in the air. Harry and Uma let out a cackle.

“Welcome!” Harry boomed, pulling on Evie’s hair tighter.

“Finally! Hello my old friends.” Uma followed on, waving the knife at Mal with a glint in her eye. 

Before Mal could respond, Uma’s knife was back on Evie’s cheek, and another gut wrenching scream left Evie’s mouth. All of them snarled in retaliation, running down the stairs on the dock, trying to get closer to the ship. 

“Uma, stop!” Mal yelled, jumping down a level to try and get closer to Evie. Her eyes flashed their brightest green yet, and were about to stay that way for a very long time. 

“Ah, ah, not so fast. If you come any closer, I might ruin my masterpiece.” Uma taunted, twirling the knife in her hands.

Evie whimpered as Uma turned back to her. “Uma, please. Please don’t do this.”

Stopping, Uma looked down at Evie, a fake pout on her face. “Begging isn’t a good look on you, Princess. Now be a good girl and sit tight.”

Mal, Carlos and Jay’s yells at Uma and Harry were drowned out by Evie’s next scream, all of them wanting to charge onto the ship but knowing that there were many swords and a very vulnerable Evie in between them. Mal gripped the side of the bridge as she looked on. She had stopped yelling at Uma and was now just trying to get Evie’s attention.

There was too much noise going on for Evie to ever hear what Mal was saying to her, but the two held eye contact like it was the only thing keeping them alive.

“It’s ok, Evie baby, it’s ok. I’m here, I’m here.” Mal kept repeating, right up until Uma’s knife left Evie for the last time, and Evie slumped downwards as much as she could whilst still being in Harry and Uma’s grasp.

“And that,” Uma said, wiping the knife on her pants and putting it away, “Is how you make an impression. Literally. Let's get this party started.”

“You’re a cold hearted bitch, Uma, you haven’t changed at all.” Jay snarled.

“Aw, thank you, Jay. You all kept me waiting long enough. I had to take a little action.”

Carlos scoffed. “You call that a ‘little’?”

Uma rolled her eyes, tapping her foot. “I’m not here for debating. You need some motivation? Just look at your little Princess’ face and ask yourself how long you think I’ll remain patient.” She said as she moved back to looking at Evie. She wiped the sleeve of her jacket across the cuts she had made on Evie’s face, making the girl whimper in pain, and when she turned her cheek to them, they finally saw what had been done to her.

The letters U M A were carved into Evie’s cheek, a trickle of blood hanging off the end of every letter, the thin red lines showing the blood that ran under Evie’s skin just threatening to spill out.

“Princess here had some trouble remembering my proper name. My name, that the world will soon know and fear! So, I’ve made sure she’ll never forget it. And every time she stares into that mirror of hers, she’ll see it, and be thinking of me. She’ll never forget that she belongs to me. Try being the fairest of them all now with that carved into your face.”

“I’ll kill you.” Mal growled, unable to take her glowing green eyes off what had happened to Evie’s skin.

Uma laughed, shaking her head. She flicked her eyes at Harry and he moved his grip from Evie’s hair, pushing her towards the end of the boat. He kept his hook trained on Evie’s back as she stumbled where he shoved her, the ropes around her making it difficult to move anywhere fast. Uma watched as she was pushed onto the plank, and smirked, raising her eyebrows back at Mal.

“I’ll throw her overboard and let her swim with killer sharks. You either hand over the wand or -”

“Ok I don’t even want to hear you finish the end of that.” Mal said, as she spared a glance at Uma after watching every move Evie took. “Let’s all just be smart. You’ll get your wand. You don’t have to cause any more harm.”

“You don’t get to order me around on my own ship.”

“Please Uma, don’t try to intimidate. Your bark is much worse than your bite.”

“Oh really?” Uma said as Evie screamed in fright, with Harry leaning her over the plank. “I guess we’ll finally see who the baddest of them all is.”

“Mal!” Evie whimpered as she looked her way, and Mal nodded, trying to convey in her eyes that she was doing everything she could.

“Bring it on, Mal. You better give us what we want. It’s the wand for your Princess, so make the trade.”  
  
“Or, walk the plank!” Harry called from the plank, an arm hooked around Evie, leaning far too close into her for Mal’s taste.

“I’m here, Uma, I’m ready! We are not having this conversation when you’ve put Evie in a do-or-die situation. If you don’t give her back to me I’ll have no hesitation. I’ll serve you right here, in front of your whole pirate crew. So release her now and we can go our separate ways…unless you want to lose to me and the VKs again, Shrimpy.”

Harry snarled at that, having made his way over from where Evie was still standing on the plank. “You better watch your tone, Mal. All it takes is one swing and I’ll humiliate her. As a matter of fact, make one more wrong move and I’ll debilitate her.” He said as he walked back to Evie, gripping the ropes on her hand and pushing her to her knees. “And if she even starts to slip? I won’t hesitate to eliminate her.”

“So don’t even give me that empty ultimatum shit, Mal. You’re not in charge. Now, do you have the wand? Or are we going to watch Evie walk into the sea?”

Carlos handed Mal the wand over her shoulder and she gripped it, praying that Uma wouldn’t make this complicated. She could see Evie struggling with Harry on the plank out of the corner of her eye and it took everything in her not to give Evie all of her attention. She needed Uma to believe her, she needed this to work.

Evie, on the other hand, was torn. She looked on as Mal held the wand, and she tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Was it the real wand? Surely Ben wouldn’t allow them to give it to Uma, who would destroy their world. But, then again, Ben had been roaring to come to the Isle with them, to bring Mal back. So maybe he did help them steal it. She loved Auradon, and she loved so many people there. Was it worth all of the struggle she had just been put through if Uma was going to be able to take over the kingdom and never let them lead a peaceful life?

Just as she was about to open her mouth to tell Mal to stop, that it was going to be a lose-lose whatever she did, Carlos moved and it caught her eye. He took something out of his pocket, showing her subtly, and she was able to see that it was the remote for his 3D printer. Her eyes widened, everything clicking into place. Thankfully no one was paying attention to them, all eyes on Mal and Uma. She smiled gratefully at Carlos who smiled softly back at her, eyes hard in determination that they were going to get her out of this. 

Mal neared Uma, the wand gripped in her hands. She was about to hold it out, when Uma held up her hand, stopping her.

“Hold up. It’s too easy.” Uma said, and Mal had to fight against the colour draining from her face. “Why don’t you give it a test drive? We want to see it work.”

Shit. Mal’s heart sank. They had brought swords, and hoped they wouldn’t have to use them, but she would never have time to get to Evie before Harry had done something awful to her. There was too much space between them.

Mal laughed, and if Uma knew her better she would know it was a nervous one. She looked around, trying to buy time. “You always were quite the drama queen.”

“Oh, and nothing too big. Or else Evie is fish bait.”

The pirates jeered again at that, and Harry hauled Evie back to her feet, holding her over the edge again as if to prove their point.

“She’s dead. We’re dead.” Mal heard Carlos say to Jay, and she turned back to them for help. When she thought all hope was lost, she saw Jay whispering to Carlos, and the light coming back into Carlos’ face. He flicked his head subtly up at the dock, and Mal saw their saving grace arrive on all four paws. She didn’t have time to think how or why Dude had made it out here, she only hoped the truth gummy was still in tact. 

She shot a pained smiled at Uma as she turned her back to her, facing Dude. “Although it seems absurd, turn your bark into a word.” She said, flicking the wand randomly at Dude as she winced and waited for a response.

  
Seriously? The dog hadn’t shut up when she gave him the gummy, and now he just looked at her blankly. She chanced a nervous glance back at Uma, who looked at her with eyebrows raised, as if she knew Mal wouldn’t have really been able to pull through. 

Mal looked back at Dude, and grimaced, whisper shouting at him. “Talk, dog!”

When Dude opened his mouth and began speaking, Mal swore she was going to buy him a lifetime worth of treats. She shot him a grateful smile, and it only grew bigger when she heard the pirates, Uma included, laughing in delight at having a working wand almost in their grasp. 

“Give me the wand!” Uma yelled as Mal turned back to face her, hand out.

Mal couldn’t believe the gall of her. “Give me Evie!” She yelled back, staring menacingly down at Uma.

Uma hesitated, and almost seemed shocked at Mal’s force, especially when she made eye contact with glowing green orbs. It briefly took Mal back to their Isle days, how that look on Uma’s face usually meant Mal had won whatever little battle they were having. However, Uma seemed to suddenly remember that _she_ was still winning, that Harry had Evie held over shark infested waters, and that she was about to rule the world. So she sighed, annoyingly looking at Mal as she turned to Harry.

“Harry, bring her over.”

Every step (or stumble) Evie took closer to them, Mal felt her heart loosen the tightness that had been there since she heard Evie had been taken. With every push on her back from Harry, Evie neared her arms. She would be able to touch her, to hold her, so soon. The pirates jeered and swung their swords, but Mal couldn’t take her eyes off Evie, who had come to a stop before Uma.

“Mal.” Evie murmured, as she looked up at her. 

“Aww.” Uma taunted, before Mal could reply. “No goodbye for me?”

Evie made the mistake of looking away from Mal and over at Uma, because she saw the wicked glint in her eye that never led to anything good. She was right, as Uma reached up to take hold of her chin, and pressed the chastest of kisses to her lips, right in front of Mal.

The pirates let out their biggest jeers yet, whooping and hollering at the act. Mal, Evie, and everyone else on their side were enraged. Evie pulled away as much as she could, swearing at Uma, and Mal growled, stepping forward in anger.

Harry was just as quick to respond, shoving Evie to her knees as he pulled out his sword, daring Mal to take another step forward.

“Fuck you, Uma.”

Uma laughed once more in Mal’s face, shaking her head. “You wish.” She said, leaning her elbow on the top of Evie’s head. She held out her hand for the wand, and Mal responded straight away, holding out hers for Evie. After a long staring contest with Mal, she nodded her head at Harry.

“Cut her loose.”

Sighing dramatically, Harry turned his sword down and swept it up through all of the ropes tying Evie together. “I never get to have any fun.”

As soon as Evie’s hands were free, they shot out on instinct to grip Mal’s hand, everything feeling right in the world when she felt Mal’s fingers curl around her hand protectively. 

Mal couldn’t have cared less about what Uma did after that. She handed her the wand without a second thought, and pulled Evie up into her, gripping her waist as she led her back to the dock.

“Mal.” Evie whispered, tears in her eyes as she hugged Mal for dear life.

Mal gripped her back, knowing that they had to get out of there as soon as they could but not wanting to let Evie go ever again. “Evie, oh my god.” 

“Mal, come on, we have to go, we have to go.” Carlos frantically spoke, pushing at all of their backs, trying to get them to the tunnel before Uma realised what had happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, Evie could see Uma holding the wand to the sky, and she vaguely heard a spell come out of her lips, but all she could concentrate on was the feeling of Mal’s arms around her, her scent back in her nose, her eyes on purple hair. She was hurting and on the verge of collapsing, but as long as she had Mal, she could make it.

They were half way up the dock when Mal heard Uma yell, and knew there was only a small chance they could make it before Uma could reach them. She knew Evie heard Uma as well, because she whimpered and tensed her eyes shut, as if expecting some kind of hurt to hit her at the sound. 

Mal didn’t have time to think about what that meant, she had to keep them moving. “Evie, baby, we have to keep going, ok? We can’t stop, we’re almost there.” She said, and attempted to give Evie a hand up the stairs by moving her arm around her stomach, pulling her up.

  
Evie yelled out in pain at Mal’s action and curled over on her stomach, holding herself protectively. “Not there.” She choked out, moving Mal’s hand away from her ribs.

“Ok, I won’t touch you there, I promise. But we have to keep going Evie, we have to hurry.” Mal repeated, and moved her hand back to Evie’s waist where it had been. She looked up, and saw they only had one more level to climb before they were back at the tunnel. Lonnie and Ben were in front of her, Carlos and Jay behind. She almost thought they would be able to make it when she heard Lonnie gasp, and Ben yell out for them.

“Look, above!” 

Everyone turned their heads to the sky at Ben’s words, seeing pirates fly across the ship onto the dock by swinging ropes, landing right in front of the tunnel. 

The pirates had cut off their escape. 

They would have to fight their way out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are never as easy as the VKs hope they will be, but at least they're back together! I had fun writing Uma and Evie's talk, and I hope you didn't cringe too much at my attempts to bring in lyrics from 'It's Going Down' to the conversation with the VKs and Uma.
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought and what you think will/want to see happen next, I love reading your comments!


	5. Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so I usually do notes at the end but wanted you all to read this first! this chapter is huuuuge - over 11,000 words! I kept writing and trying to find a place to end it that felt right but never really got there until now! i also fell asleep on my laptop about 5 times doing the last proof read of this so I hope there's no gaping mistakes!
> 
> thank you so so much for taking the time to read this story and for those of you who leave comments - i love you dearly! it means so much that you appreciate reading these crazy ideas i put down into words. you're all amazing and hope you enjoy the chapter! :))))

All of a sudden, time moved in slow motion for Evie. She was standing at the foot of a set of stairs, clutching her stomach, the putrid fish smell still in her nose. The scenes around her were chaos. Pirates glided through the air, ropes falling to the ground. She ached, her entire being felt like it was on fire, but she couldn’t ground herself, let alone make sense of anything. Mal’s voice was in her ear, yelling, but no words came through. All she could hear was the pounding sound of blood rushing inside her body, feeling like it would burst out at any moment. 

Around her, swords were being pulled out and were waiting to clash together. Before anyone could even think about what was happening, Lonnie was throwing swords for Mal, Jay, Carlos and Evie to catch. Mal caught two, knowing Evie wasn’t up to fighting anyone off.

  
“Protect Evie! We have to move as one.” Mal yelled as she heard the fighting start, a perfect symphony of pandemonium occurring around them. 

Risking a look at Evie before the pirate rushing at them could attack, Mal grimaced when she was met with dazed eyes and a ghostly white complexion. 

“Shit.” She muttered, knowing they had a hell of a fight in front of them if they ever dreamed of making it out alive. 

She didn’t have time to ponder it, however, as her sword swung through the air, crashing with the pirate in front of her. She saw Ben, Jay and Lonnie move to either side of her, encircling Evie behind them, as they began the battle. 

  
The four of them outmanoeuvred the three pirates who had landed on the dock a lot faster than Mal would have thought, but letting an enlarged ego lose her this fight and potentially Evie was the last thing she had planned.

Carlos had scrambled for the bag on his back, slinging as many smoke bombs as he could back onto the ship to slow down the onslaught of those pirates. The element of surprise worked well for the most part, and the VKs, Lonnie and Ben had time to regroup before the rest of the pirates from the ship came towards them.

“Uma’s pissed. I’m not letting her bring her fight here. She’s staying on that ship, as far away from Evie as possible.” Mal panted out to Jay.

Jay nodded. “I’ll do the same with Harry.”

Mal turned to Evie, gaining her attention, however dazed it was. She moved her hands up, intending on cupping Evie’s cheeks gently, but Evie flinched at the movement of hands to her face, and Mal abruptly stopped, a pain striking her chest at the sight. 

“Evie, it’s me. It’s just me.” Mal whispered, even though Evie most likely wouldn’t have heard her. As much as she wanted to dwell on it, she couldn’t, already moving towards the ship with Jay as she called back out. “Carlos, you don’t leave her side.”

Carlos nodded, tightening the grip on his sword as he, Lonnie and Ben circled back up, enclosing Evie behind them again.

Mal and Jay split as soon as Jay saw Harry leave the ship, eyes on Evie. He followed his line, intending to block the pirate off and give him a taste of his own medicine. Mal kept her sight on Uma, the pirate captain staring straight back at her, darkness in her eyes.

“Go!” Uma yelled at her crew who rushed at Mal as soon as she hit the bridge to the boat. They dived in too fast at her, making it easy to push, swing and throw them out of her way. She was enraged just like Uma was, and she was so close to making her pay. None of these pirate imbeciles were going to stop her from doing that.

At long last, she had finally rid all the pirates from her path and she was face to face with Uma, who pulled out her sword.

“You’re going to regret the wand.” 

Mal shook her head, laughing darkly at her. “Not as much as you’re going to regret putting your hands on Evie.”

  
They lunged at each other, swords clashing and yells flying in an almighty battle. Back up on the upper levels of the dock, Jay had successfully intercepted Harry, and was about to start doing the same.

“Hello Jay.” Harry said, wicked smirk in place as he took his pirate hat off.

Jay just stared back, and if a smirk appeared on his face as well, it was only because he knew this would be the day that Harry would rue forever.

“Well, well, well.” 

They circled each other once until Harry’s sword came flying out of its buckle, making Jay leap back. Then their dance began.

Down below them, Lonnie and Ben had done well so far to keep the pirates out of their way. Carlos was doing his best to keep guard whilst also watching Evie, and he didn’t like the way she was looking. 

“Hang in there, we’re gonna get you home.” He said, looking at her. When she only stared back, eyes glazed over, he swore under his breath. Learning from what happened with Mal before, he made his next movements slower. “Eves, I’m going to move you, ok? It’s just me. I won’t hurt you.”

Evie didn’t respond either positively or negatively, and after a few seconds Carlos had to make a decision. When a pirate rushed at them with such a force it took both Ben and Lonnie to hold him off and send him flying in the other direction, Carlos acted.

He put his hands on the sides of Evie’s arms, careful not to touch where her rope burns were. He gently pulled her into the corner of a wooden rail on the dock, where she could take the weight off her body from standing and lean back into it. He gave her the extra sword he held, even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.

The cut on Evie’s neck continued to bleed, and before he could turn back to the pirates he quickly ripped the sleeve off his shirt and doubled it over. Moving slowly, he pressed it against the side of Evie’s neck, hating that the action pulled life back into Evie as she winced in pain, trying to move away.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, Eves. It’s going to help. That’s it now, you just stay there.”

“Carlos! We need you here!” Ben grunted, fighting two pirates off at once in front of them.

Carlos nodded, more to himself than anyone. “You’re ok, it’s ok.” He said over and over to Evie, eventually forcing himself to turn away from her and face the pirates, just as Gill dropped in front of them off a rope.

“Hey Ben!” He taunted, swinging at him and pulling him into a sword fight on the side. 

Both Uma and Mal and Jay and Harry’s fights were so intense, the crew seemed to realise it would be pointless to get involved. Just as Gill had arrived to pull Ben off into a fight, so many more arrived, sweeping at Lonnie, Carlos and Evie who were sitting ducks in the corner. They did their best to fight them off, and if Carlos wasn’t fighting for both his and Evie’s lives, he would have stopped and stared at Lonnie’s skills in wonder. She was fighting off pirates left and right, and just when it seemed that it was the end for her, she would manoeuvre out so fast it made everyone dizzy.

“Stay with Evie, I have to divert them!” She yelled suddenly to Carlos, and with a heaving shove of her sword, pushed the pirates back so they all toppled on each other. She leapt over them all, singing a taunt at them which successfully resulted in more than half of them leaving Carlos and Evie to chase her.

They ran past the bridge to the ship, where Mal and Uma were still battling. It was hard to say who was winning, and even harder to say who was fighting with more rage. Mal finally found Uma in a weak spot when she had ducked a swing, and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in close. 

“Hey Shrimpy.”

Uma yelled in frustration, sliding out of Mal’s grasp and shoving her away. Harry made a similar yell on the docks, almost collapsing to the floor with Jay’s kick to his leg. They were fighting with swords but throwing more punches and kicks than necessary, which was a testament to their pent up rage at each other. 

Carlos watched all of this go down from the middle of the dock. He watched Mal and Uma attack, he saw Jay and Harry’s violence, he saw Lonnie literally give her sword to a pirate, dodge all his attacks, and still take him down with a swift kick to the chest.

Then he saw Gill swinging at Ben, advancing on him so fast that Ben tripped back to the floor, with only his sword held up as a shield. 

Mal’s words rang through his head as he watched Gill move towards Ben. _“Carlos, you don’t leave her side!”_

A dead Ben was worse than a pissed off Mal, and Carlos had approximately 0.2 seconds to decide to save him, leaving Evie in the corner. He jumped the railing down to where Gill had Ben, yelling to get his attention. His sword swung at Gill and knocked him down, leaving room for Ben to escape.

The whole altercation had lasted less than 5 seconds, but that was enough time for his worst nightmare to appear as he looked back up at Evie. 

A pirate had seen him leave her, and was rushing over, his sword ready to swing through the air. 

“Evie, no!”

But Carlos didn’t have to worry.

As it turns out, Evie had some fight left in her. And once again, she should never be underestimated. She swung the sword in her hand that Carlos had given her back at the pirate, which effectively slammed his fist down on the ground, his sword falling out of his hands in the process. She pushed herself off the railing to stomp on his back, keeping him on the ground when he tried to get back up.

“Ben, get up there!” Carlos yelled, seeing Gill stand up out of the corner of his eye. He saw Ben jump up the railing to take Evie’s back in fighting off the pirates as he turned back to Gaston’s son, sword clenched in his fist.

Above them, Harry’s luck had turned, and he currently had Jay pinned against the railing, sword and hook creeping closer and closer as they struggled against each other. 

“I wonder if you’ll be as fun to break as your wee Evie was.” Harry taunted to Jay’s face, just inches away from him.

That was all the motivation Jay needed to turn the tides, yelling in anger as he heaved Harry off him, grabbing his sword and hook and kicking him mirthlessly to the ground. He realised the position of power he was in when he had Harry’s hook swinging off the end of his sword over the water, making the pirate drop his own sword as a sign of peace to get the hook back. 

“Fuck you, Harry.” Jay spat as he let the hook plunge into the ocean, walking away as Harry scrambled into the water to retrieve it. 

Uma also seemed to be gaining a one up on Mal, her anger coming off her in waves. It almost made Mal worried until the pirate made the exact same mistake of ducking again, letting Mal gain control by stomping on her sword. Uma couldn’t move, so Mal risked a glance upwards. Her eyes widened when she saw Evie and Ben fighting back to back - she marvelled at the strength her girlfriend must have to fight at all in her state.

Mal looked back down to Uma, still trapped under the position of her shoe, and glared at her. “We’re getting off this hell hole. And you and the rest of your scum are going to stay here until you fade away into nothing. No one will ever know you. No one will ever care. You’ll never have what we have, you’ll never have Evie, and you know what? That’s what you fucking deserve.” Mal spat. Before she could give Uma a chance to respond, she swung at Uma’s hand, feeling the sword slice the girl’s skin and cut blood.

She took off running back up the dock towards Evie and Ben, and once Uma had recovered from the shock of her hand being hit, she ran after. A familiar voice yelling her name stopped her, and she heaved Harry out of the water no matter how much she wanted to keep chasing Mal. She wouldn’t leave him in shark infested waters for anything. 

Carlos, Ben and Lonnie collided at the top of the dock, having successfully pushed, shoved and slashed the pirates they were fighting into submission. 

“Ben, Lonnie, go start the car!” Carlos ordered, already looking away from him to see that Jay had run from his fight with Harry, straight over to guard and fight alongside Evie.

“We’ll see you guys soon.” Lonnie said to Carlos as they ran off, a promise to both of them that they were all going to make it out of there alive.

“Come on, let’s go!” Mal’s voice yelled as she scrambled up the stairs of the lower half of the dock, sprinting along the platform to reach the top level that the rest of them were on. She swung her sword through the bottom half of the railing that Jay and Evie were fighting against, slicing against the pirate’s legs so they dropped to the floor in pain, making it easy for Jay and Evie to kick them down a level.

Uma and Harry were hot on her heels, and she barely made it up to the top platform before spinning around, meeting Uma face to face again.

Just as Jay and Evie thought they would be able to catch their breaths, a sword flung into the ladder between them, missing both of their faces by inches.

“Hiya!” Harry’s maniacal voice greeted them as Jay growled at his presence, pushing Evie back behind the ladder and climbing up it backwards, taking Harry’s blows on his own sword. When he saw his chance he knocked Harry’s sword and hook deep into the ladder and jumped off it.

Stuck to the ladder, Harry found himself face to face with Evie, who leant around, tickling under his chin. 

“Coochie, coochie, coo!” She sang, before Jay pulled her out of the way as Harry lunged out from the ladder. 

Jay backed her into another corner, before leaving to fight Harry again. She let herself fall back against the wall, her body finally overcome with defeat now that she didn’t have to fight her way out of any pirate onslaughts. 

Looking around, she saw her friends all engaged in heated battles. Jay and Harry, Mal and Uma, Carlos and the rest of the pirates who kept trying to come back up the stairs. She could see the entrance to the tunnel, they were so close. She had never had the feeling of wanting something so bad, but also wanting to give up entirely at the same time. They just needed a few seconds of a head start, before they could escape forever. 

It felt like she was using every ounce of strength she had left to grab into Mal’s bag when she saw it lying next to her. She hauled herself up onto the ladder behind her so she could get a clear shot, and waited for the perfect moment. 

Finally, it happened. Jay had thrown off Harry. Uma had been spun out by Mal. Carlos had kicked the last of the pirates down the stairs. Evie yelled out, and threw the smoke bomb with all her might into the centre of the fight. 

Then, she closed her eyes, exhausted, and let the thought of falling and letting the air carry her wherever it wanted to overcome her.

“Evie!” Mal shouted in horror as she watched Evie pass out and fall from the ladder.

Luckily, Jay was right there and he dropped his sword, catching her safely. He didn’t wait for an order from Mal as he ran across the bridge, into the safety of the tunnel with Evie. Mal was right behind him and she grabbed Carlos on her way, making sure he had entered the tunnel before turning back around and staring at Uma through the fading purple smoke.

Mal bore right into Uma’s eyes as she kicked the bridge from the tunnel into the water, closing off the option for Uma and the rest of her crew to follow their escape route. She let herself look at Uma’s enraged face for a second before taking off down the tunnel, sprinting after Jay, Evie and Carlos, towards safety.

She willed herself to move faster as she heard Carlos shout down the tunnel, “Mal, come on!” Finally, she saw the light at the end, and Carlos’ face looking at her.

“Where’s Evie?” She panted, skidding out of the tunnel.

“Jay has her in the limo. Come on, let’s go!” Carlos said, pushing her into the car before going to get in after her.

“Carlos!”

Carlos spun around, hand on the door at the call of his name. “Dizzy! What are you doing here?”

Dizzy sprinted towards him. “I promise I stayed away. I just thought you’d need extra help. So I went back to the shop and made all these. Uma’s after you, I can hear her. But she won’t be able to catch you if she can’t see you.” Dizzy quickly rushed out, showing Carlos an entire apron pocket full of smoke bombs. “I put a little something extra in as well. If anyone breathes in these fumes they’re going to take a nice hour nap.”

“Dizzy, what would we do without you? Block off all the exits she has. Then run home as fast as you can ok?”

Dizzy nodded at Carlos’ orders, already holding a smoke bomb in her hand. Just as Carlos was going to get in the car, Dizzy rushed forward, picking up something off the ground. “Carlos, it’s Mal’s spell book!”

“Wow, that would have been bad.” Carlos said, gripping it tight.

“Carlos, come on!” Jay yelled from in the car.

“Go Carlos, get Evie out of here. I’ll be ok, I promise.”

Carlos wished he could give Dizzy more than the grateful look he had for her but they had to leave. As he closed the door to the limo he saw bursts of colour erupt all around it, and a small body take off back down the street to safety. 

He didn’t even let himself have time to breathe before bursting into action in the limo. Jay had lay Evie down on the long seat along the side, and Mal was kneeling on the floor, right at her head. Carlos came to kneel beside her, looking at his friend solemnly.

“She hasn’t woken up since she fainted.” Jay said, answering Carlos’ unspoken question, and Mal growled out under her breath in response. Carlos saw that she had her hand on Evie’s wrist gently, fingers placed in a specific position that only meant one thing.

“Is she…”

“She’s breathing, yes.” Jay answered again, and Carlos let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.

“Evie, Evie baby, can you wake up for me?” Mal murmured, for what felt like the 50th time since they had gotten into the limo. She tried not to let the panic she felt drip into her voice, running her thumb over the back of Evie’s hand soothingly. “Come on, show me those beautiful eyes.”

There was no movement from Evie, and Mal swallowed, feeling tears of exhaustion, worry and worn off adrenaline prick at her eyes. “Evie, it’s just us now, it’s ok. You’re safe, I promise you. Please wake up, Eves. Please.”

Her voice cracked as a tear dripped out, and she rested her forehead against Evie’s temple, trying to keep her sorrow at bay. She felt Carlos and Jay put a hand on her shoulder in solidarity, and took comfort in their presence. She barely heard Ben announce from the front of the limo that they had passed through the barrier, and that Auradon was in sight, but when she started to see gold flashing outside the windows, her eyes widened.

“We’re out of the barrier, I can use magic!” She said quickly, taking her hands off Evie and feeling around in her jacket. “My spell book, where is it?”

Mal’s movements became more frantic when she realised that she didn’t have it on her, and couldn’t remember the last time she felt it on her either. Just before she could really start to panic, Carlos had a hand on her arm, holding out the book.

  
“It’s here. Dizzy saw it on the ground as we were about to drive off and gave it to me.”

Mal sighed in relief, clutching at the book before looking up at him. “Wait, Dizzy?” She and Jay said simultaneously.

Carlos nodded. “Yeah, she went back and made more smoke bombs, but this time put the sleeping fumes in them. She made sure Uma couldn’t follow us back here.”

“That brave little squirt.” An impressed Jay said.

“What a girl. Evie would be so proud.” Mal added. She then turned her attention back to the book, flipping to the pages she had thumbed down in her search beforehand and read frantically.

“Are you sure any of them will work?” Jay said, watching Mal read.

“They have to.”

“Which spells are you going to use?” Carlos said, holding on to the door of the limo to steady himself as they made it off the bridge, bumping back onto the road.

A groan from the seats pulled all of their attention and Evie winced in pain, opening her eyes. “Hopefully one that lets me forget the last 24 hours of my life.”

“Evie!” They all exclaimed, and Mal dropped the spell book to the floor. 

“Evie, oh Evie,” Mal said over and over again in joy, the tears spilling out of her eyes as she made eye contact again with the love of her life. She wanted to badly to touch her, to feel her skin under her hands, to run her fingers through her hair, but she didn’t think she could take the look on Evie’s face if she reacted the same way she had before on Uma’s ship.

“Hey gorgeous.” Evie said, with a small smile, that quickly turned into a frown as the movement of her face pulled at the scars on her skin. 

Mal’s eyes darkened as she looked at the blood stained U M A on Evie’s cheek, her rapidly turning black eye, and her split lip. She forced herself to be angry about it later, not willing to let even a second of attention slip away from Evie now that she had her back. 

“That’s my line.” She said, trying to put on a smile.

But Evie had seen the way her eyes moved and changed. She knew she looked messed up, she could feel it without having to see her reflection. “How bad is it?”

“You’re still the fairest in the land, Eves.” Jay said with a small smile on his face, not wanting the mood to get any darker than it already was.

They heard Lonnie call from the front seat. “We’re about five minutes away from school guys.”

“M, I’m really cold.” Evie then murmured, and as if her body was shocked back to the reality that she had just been through a traumatic event, her shivering came back full force and she turned as white as a ghost. Mal immediately scanned her body, and now that the shock of her being awake and seemingly ok had worn off, she noticed that Evie was anything but ‘seemingly ok’. 

“It’s ok, you’re ok Eves. We’re going to make you better.” Mal rambled, hands hovering over Evie’s body, for the first time in her life, entirely unsure how to comfort her girlfriend. 

Evie let out an almighty cough that had her keeling over the side of the seat for more reasons than one. Her hand flew to her mouth and brought away blood with it. Her other hand curled over her ribs, a guttural cry of pain leaving her mouth at the action.

“What’s happening to her?” Carlos asked, horrified at the pain he was seeing his friend in.

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure she has at least one broken rib. She responded the same way on the ship when I put pressure on her chest.” Mal replied, stroking hair out of Evie’s face as she leant over the seat. She wiped the blood off Evie’s hand with a piece of cloth in the limo, and lay her back down on her back. 

“Evie, baby, I know you’re hurting. I want to help you. But I need to know what happened to you on the ship, so I know where to put the magic.”

Evie grimaced, straining her eyes open to look at Mal as if it took every last effort in her body. “I’m sorry, Mal.” She whispered, and her eyes closed again, her hands falling limp.

“Evie? Evie!” Mal yelled, grabbing Evie’s hands and trying to shake her awake. “No, no, Evie!”

“Fuck.” Jay swore, picking up the spell book Mal had dropped earlier and rifling through the pages himself. 

“What happened?” Ben called, shooting a quick look in the mirror at them as he continued to drive.

“Just drive faster, Ben!” Carlos yelled back.

Lonnie had turned around from the front seat, leaning over to the back. “We need to take her to the healing centre.”

“No, no. She’s not going there. We’re not going there.” Mal shook her head vehemently, still grasping Evie’s hands. “Evie, baby, please wake up. Please.”

“Mal, she needs to go. She coughed up blood.” Lonnie said again, trying to reason with her.

“No, Lonnie! If we go there, we’ll have to explain the situation. What do you think is going to happen once they hear the story?”

“What are you getting at, Mal?” Ben asked from the front seat.

Carlos finally clicked on. “She thinks they’ll send us back.”

“Think? Carlos, I ran away. I turned my back on the offer Auradon gave us. I made the King of Auradon put his life in danger on the Isle and I almost got my girlfriend killed. I’ve fucked up enough in the last 24 hours, I am not about to make another mistake.”

“Mal,” Lonnie spoke again, softer this time. “Mal, they would never send you back. They couldn’t. We wouldn’t let them.”

“Yeah, I should know. I’m the King.”

Lonnie nodded her head at Ben. “I can’t imagine how you feel right now, Mal, and I don’t want to push you. But we need to do something. If not the Healing Centre, then at least Fairy Godmother. Mal, you of all people should know what Fairy Godmother would do for you all. She has taken you under her wing, she’s so proud of you. Even when you make a mistake, she’s always proud of you. She would never let you get taken away from Auradon.”

Lonnie’s eyes widened when Mal didn’t reply, staring at Evie as she took in her words. She almost thought that Mal would actually listen to her, and so she spoke again. “Evie needs help, Mal. She’s not ok.”

Mal was silent for a few seconds more before she looked up at Lonnie, her eyes sparking emerald. “We will do something. But by ourselves. I’m not risking it for any of us. I really appreciate everything you two have done for us, but if you can’t accept that, then as far as I’m concerned you’re currently a barrier to Evie getting better.”

Jay and Carlos raised their eyebrows, knowing Mal was speaking from a place of worry rather than real anger, but also knowing how terrifying she could be in this state. Carlos put his hand on Mal’s shoulder comfortingly, directing her attention back to Evie, and Jay sat up to gently push Lonnie back into the front seat. 

“She didn’t mean that, I’m sorry. But she can’t be reasoned with when she’s like this. Especially because the only person who can normally get through to her is passed out.” He murmured to them, quiet enough that Mal wouldn’t be able to hear. “Is there anywhere you can take us where we can keep Evie safe, until Mal figures out a plan? Cotillion is tonight, there’s people everywhere on campus and we can’t drag Evie through that.”

Ben nodded, seriously considering going against all their wishes and turning right to the Healing Center, but instead he veered off left, coming to a stop in front of a lavish looking but small house, a hundred yards out from the school.

“This was built for me before I was barely in prep school as a place to live. You know, for the ‘future King’.” He scoffed. “I’ve never used it, I just wanted to be a regular student. But, it is good for stressful pacing, which I have been known to do for time to time. She’ll be safe here.”

Jay smiled gratefully. “Thank you, Ben.”

As soon as the car came to a halt, Carlos and Mal shoved the doors open and let Jay out, carrying Evie in his arms. Before Ben could even reach the front door, Mal had it open with a flick of her wrist, and Ben and Lonnie could see the fire in her eyes as she, Jay and Carlos strode past them.

Ben reached out to Carlos before he could go inside. “We’ll be back. We just need to…make an appearance before Cotillion starts…so people don’t get suspicious.” 

Carlos nodded absently, eyes on his friends inside the house. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ben and Lonnie retreat from him, driving off in the limo, and he raced into the bedroom, feeling Mal magic the door shut behind him.

“You know they’ve actually gone to get Fairy Godmother, right?” He said, looking as Jay gently lay Evie on the bed.

  
Mal and Jay nodded, Mal focussed on the spell book as she spoke. “They’re terrible liars. They’ll be back, but at least it gives me time, and that’s all I need right now. Brace yourselves, this is going to hurt to watch.”

Jay and Carlos gave each other confused looks as Mal picked up one of Evie’s hands and nodded at them to all join hands together. She closed her eyes, looked as if she was focussing all of her energy into one zone, and began to speak.

“ _Revel to us the memories that lie within,_

_Holdback no secret, don’t let the light dim,_

_Show us the pain, the beauty, the strife_

_Let us see, her past day in the life”_

As soon as the last word left Mal’s lips, all three of them felt their eyes close, and their brains be overcome with hazy images. Jay felt Mal grip his hand tighter and soon enough, the images transformed into moving memories. 

Jay and Carlos almost jumped back in fright as they saw each other and Mal standing in Mal and Evie’s room. They touched their faces and each others hands, wondering if they were holograms or ghost like, but they were real. Just when they were wondering what else they could do in this spell, Mal yelled out. 

“Evie!” 

Mal was unable to contain herself upon seeing her girlfriend walk through their room door. Jay and Carlos looked at her, and then to Evie, wondering if Evie could hear, see, or sense them, wondering if the spell Mal had cast could actually change the course of history. They had no idea Mal was capable of taking them back in time. Mal’s attempt at calling out to Evie was useless, of course. She knew the spell would only allow them to observe, not intervene. But she had to try. Judging by Evie’s outfit and her general happiness, they knew they were seeing her before she realised Mal had gone. They watched as Evie made a beeline for the desk, but then stopped, a note on her bed catching her eye.

Mal could barely watch as Evie’s face morphed into horror at the words written on the paper. It only said ‘ _Evie, I’m so sorry’_ , but Evie knew in an instant what they were referring to. She dropped her bag on the floor and sprinted out the door, and the memory morphed around them.

Jay and Carlos saw their past selves standing in Ben’s office with Ben and Evie, all in discussion about what to do.

_“We have to go. We have to get her back.”_ Evie demanded, looking at all of them.

_“Of course we’re going.”_ Carlos nodded.

_“I’m coming too.”_

_“Ben, no. I know you want to help, but it’s too dangerous.”_ Jay said, stepping forward.

Ben shook his head, and Mal, looking in on the memory saw the determination set in his eyes that meant he wouldn’t change his mind. _“It’s my fault she felt the need to leave. I’m coming.”_

Evie shook her head. _“No, it’s my fault. I feel awful I didn’t see what this was doing to her. If it forced her to leave, how much was she hurting? We have to go, and we have to go now.”_

“Evie, no…no.” Mal whimpered out, as the memory morphed around them again. Tears spilled down her eyes as she knew what was coming, and Jay and Carlos moved in beside her, holding her hands to comfort her.

Mal, Jay and Carlos watched past Jay, Carlos, Ben and Evie travel across the ocean to the Isle, hide the car, and run to the hideout. They watched Ben ask to speak to Mal first, and saw Evie’s internal fight with herself as she eventually agreed, but only for a minute, and then she was going up.

As Mal remembered, it took less than a minute for her to dissuade Ben, and he was climbing back down the stairs before they knew it. Mal locked the door on the rest of them, and they saw the very moment where it all went wrong. Carlos was the first to notice Ben was missing, and then they split. 

The memory followed Evie, sprinting through the streets with practiced ease, hiding against the walls and cracks like she had never left the Isle. She almost ran past the alley Ben was in until she did a double take, skidding to a stop and running up to him. Mal, Jay and Carlos, looking on, could see when Harry Hook, Gil and a few other pirates also saw Evie fly down the alley, and quickly followed in pursuit. They all squeezed each others hands, wanting desperately to yell out and warn past Evie and Ben, but knowing it would be a fruitless exercise.

They all growled out when Harry called Evie a ‘ _traitorous slut’_ and again when he had her on the ground, tying her up. They saw how she got the cut on her neck from his hook, and how Harry pushed and shoved her down the alley, all the way to the docks, when Ben took off to find the others. 

Mal, Jay and Carlos couldn’t help but feel proud at the way Evie held herself in Uma’s presence. They all knew she was quick to anger, and Evie had managed to piss her off within seconds of speaking to her. They winced when they saw the pirates scramble to follow Uma’s orders and tie Evie up, her bare arms and hands being twisted by the rope. Harry left with Evie’s jacket, and the memory morphed again.

It was later this time, and judging by the smug look on Uma’s face, she had already bested Mal in the arm wrestle at the shop. Harry was taunting Evie with his hook, and the three of them snorted when they saw Evie head butt him into the side of the ship. Uma started speaking, but Mal struggled to focus in on the words she was saying. All she could do was imagine the different ways she wanted to take her face and pummel it to the ground. That was, until Uma brought up the Evil Queen.

Mal, Jay and Carlos gasped as they watched Evie’s face lose all its colour at the mention of her mother and acid. They didn’t know Uma had stooped that low.

“Wow, Uma really held nothing back.” Jay muttered darkly, watching Uma play Evie right into her hands.

“That bitch.” Mal spat, as she saw Uma cut open Evie’s neck again, telling her to ‘ _Beg’_ for her mercy.

She didn’t have much time to ponder it, however, as the memory changed again, this time showing hints of early dawn. The pirates were drinking, and growing restless, and before they knew it, Evie had spat the drink back in their faces.

“Evie.” Mal groaned out upon seeing this action, both proud at her for fighting back but also knowing that pain was going to come to her. Sure enough, the punch that the pirate landed on Evie’s stomach made another tear leak out of Mal’s eye, and made Carlos turn away, wincing. They forced themselves to watch Evie endure almost choking on the liquid, and wanted to rip the tongue out of the pirates mouth when he licked her face.

“What the fuck is wrong with these scum bags!” Jay yelled out into the air, Mal and Carlos the only ones able to hear him.

“Don’t you dare…” Mal threatened quietly, watching Uma approach Evie who was in a vulnerable, weakened state. “Don’t you dare…” She repeated, watching as Uma said vulgar things to Evie, pulling on her lip as she moved away. 

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” Carlos said, as the memory morphed around them again.

Mal steeled herself, recognising the scene around them as almost noon. “We have to. If we don’t know where she got hurt, we can’t heal her in the most effective way. And we’re only seeing this. She went through it. This is nothing.”

  
“It’s ok, Mal. We’re here with you. We’ll all get through it.” Jay said, squeezing Mal’s hand as they watched on.

_“Wait. So you’re_ not _together? She’s not your girlfriend anymore?”_

Mal rolled her eyes at Uma’s dramatics when Evie was explaining their situation. She hated hearing that Evie thought it was her fault. None of it was her fault, none at all. Yet there she was, injured and tied up, and having to explain to Uma why they were the ones who got off the Isle, and why they weren’t so different.

“Wait, what is she doing?” Carlos wondered out loud, when he heard the tone in Evie’s voice change from frustrated and scared, to almost…flirtatious?

 _“I’d rather talk about you._ ”

“She’s playing her! Evie is trying to get Uma interested in her so it’ll distract her from doing any more damage.” Jay said with an impressed tone.

Mal, however, was looking at Uma, and saw the exact moment that Evie said too much, fake flirted a little too hard, and Uma caught on. Mal could see that Evie was so exhausted, she was putting everything into this act as a last hope, and didn’t notice that Uma had turned the tables, that she was now playing her. Mal could only hope that Evie chose her words carefully. 

_“…who else could control what you have?”_

“Oh fuck.”

“Evie!”

“Did she really just say that?”

Jay, Mal and Carlos said out loud at the same time. They all remembered instantly where those words were spoken before. They remembered a 14 year old Evie recounting in exact detail to them what she said to Uma to be able to steal her territory. Evie, in her state, seemed to have forgotten, but they all saw that Uma hadn’t. 

It surprised all of them, even Mal, to see the extent of the damage that their actions a few years back had caused Uma. Sure, they didn’t like her back then. It’s nothing compared to the hatred they had for her now, but they didn’t take her territory because they hated her. They took it because the consequences from Maleficent and their parents wouldn’t have been worth not doing so. It seems Evie was trying to get Uma to understand that, but Uma was so far past rage that she couldn’t be reasoned with at all.

When Evie realised this, she too, seemed to give up. Her words cost her two strikes to the face, and they saw where the split lip and bruised eye came from. They thought that was going to be it, that it would just be Uma’s final dramatic show, and that they could be done with this memory, when Evie kept talking.

“Stop, Evie, stop talking. Evie, shut up!” Mal yelled, desperate to try and get through to her girlfriend that she needed to protect herself. 

Of course, nothing Mal could do was going to change the past, or stop Uma’s actions. They saw Evie receive another punch to the gut, and Mal swore she heard a rib break then and there. Her other injuries were made worse, and then they saw Harry approach them again.

  
_“Move her to the middle of the ship.”_ Uma ordered Harry as they untied Evie from the pole. _“Let’s let Mal, Jay and Carlos see their precious, perfect princess become a little less fair, and a little more owned.”_

_“What are you going to do, what do you mean? Let me go!”_ Evie said, and the three watching on could hear the fear in her voice. They all tensed once Uma, Evie and Harry were standing where they remembered them, Uma with the small glistening knife in her hand. 

“Don’t make us watch, please.” Carlos begged Mal, having already turned away from the scene into her shoulder.

Mal didn’t respond, and only kept looking forward. 

“Mal, stop. It’s enough.” Carlos tried again.

Jay looked down at Mal, and pulled his hand out of hers, putting it on her face instead so she would look at him. Mal struggled against him for a bit, not wanting to take her eyes off Evie. “Mal, look at me.” It took another few seconds for Mal to act, but then her defeated eyes met his. “You know enough. You know what happens next. I know you blame yourself. But you can’t use this to punish yourself. Forcing yourself to watch this happen isn’t going to make this go away, or not happen. Don’t hurt yourself more because you’re angry at yourself. You need to be ok, because Evie’s not. And we need to help her. So let go, please Mal. It’s enough.”

Mal seemed to be in an internal battle with herself at Jay’s words, but eventually her eyes dropped, more tears spilling out of them, as she leant her head down onto Jay’s chest. He wrapped his arm around her back, holding her up, and murmured softly into her hair.

“Let go, Mal, let go.”

Mal raised her arm and manoeuvred her wrist through the air, pulling them out of the memory and back into the real world just as the first scream left Evie’s lips, piercing their senses as they opened their eyes again. 

Carlos immediately let go of everyone’s hands, falling back into the chair by the bed. Jay put his hands on his head, willing it to stop moving, and Mal ran into the bathroom, throwing up the little that was in her stomach. All reactions were in part from the way the spell messed with their body, but most were from the horrible scenes they had witnessed. 

Jay and Carlos watched as Mal quickly forced herself out of the bathroom, swiping wildly at her eyes to brush the tears away. She nodded at them and they stood around the bed. Jay held up Mal’s spell book.

“She had no jacket the whole time, so she’s freezing. I’m willing to bet that’s what made her pass out. I know a spell to fix that. You two find one for her ribs.” She ordered as they opened the book, and she looked down at Evie on the bed. She took comfort in the soft rise and fall of her chest, before she placed her hands out across it, hovering just over her shirt.

_“Bring my hands what they desire,_

_Make them as warm as the soft glow of fire.”_

It was still a strange sensation for Mal, feeling magic pump through her veins. Even though she’s always possessed the ability, it wasn’t able to be unleashed until she arrived at Auradon. She wasn’t one to brag, but since her time here under the guise of Fairy Godmother’s teaching (and under the guise of her own self-taught method of ‘fuck it let’s just see what happens’) (to which countless items of school property were destroyed), she had gotten pretty good at it. 

Her hands tingled as she saw a soft glow emit from them, and she focused her movements, delicate and precise, hovering over every inch of Evie’s body. After a few minutes, she saw a red tinge reappear in Evie’s cheeks, and she allowed herself to let out a sigh of relief, knowing the healing was working. 

“Anything?”

Carlos stopped flicking through the book long enough to answer Mal. “Not for her ribs.”

“Ok, keep looking.” Mal said, shaking her hands to rid the fire glow from them as she finished warming up Evie’s body. 

Carlos nodded, but left Jay to keep scanning the book as he watched Mal work. She picked up one of Evie’s hands, and covered it in both of hers, muttering an incantation into it. When her hands left Evie’s, the rope burns that once were indented into her skin had faded ever so slightly, the purple and blue bruising now a less dark shade. Carlos saw Mal swear under her breath as she saw the damage still there, and she muttered the incantation again, this time focusing all her energy onto Evie’s hand. After her third time applying the spell, the rope burns now only resembled thin red lines, and Mal rubbed at her forehead, breathing out deeply.

“Mal, if it’s getting too much just take a break.” Carlos suggested gently.

Mal’s vehement disagreement shut Carlos right up, and she picked Evie’s other hand up softly, beginning her mutterings all over again. 

After a few more minutes, Jay and Carlos were beginning to lose hope. They felt like they had looked through every spell possible in the book, and none seemed like they would offer Evie a quick fix. The ones that might work all required a potion to be brewed, or a use of magic so forceful it would be more painful for Evie to endure than what was worth. Carlos looked up to tell Mal the news, before movement outside the house alerted him.

“Shit, they’re back.”

Mal was jolted out of her focus, and barely held the spell together long enough to see the deep cut in Evie’s lip close shut. It was still visible and scraped over, but it would have to do for now.

“Ok, ok. We have to wake her up.” Mal said. “If she’s still unconscious, Fairy Godmother will force her to go to the healing centre.”

“Evie? Evie can you hear us?” Jay asked slowly as he took Evie’s hand in his, giving it a quick squeeze.

Carlos sat on the side of the bed, putting his hand on Evie’s arm. “Eves, it’s just us.”

No movement came from Evie, and Mal cursed, hearing car doors outside open and close. “Evie, baby, it’s time to wake up. Evie, please wake up.”

A knock on the door sounded and Ben yelled out for them. The three VKs looked at each other, uncertainty in their eyes. 

“What do we do?” Carlos whispered.

Mal battled with herself as she stared at Evie, and then moved her gaze to Jay and Carlos, looking like she had come to a decision but hated herself for it. 

“Carlos, get the door. But try and hold them off.”

Carlos nodded, moving slowly as he saw Mal instruct Jay to hold one of Evie’s shoulders down. Mal flicked the bedroom door shut behind Carlos as he left, and just before he opened the front door, he heard Evie yell out.

Mal had gently brought her hand up to Evie’s cheek, and had pressed her thumb into the U M A cut as lightly as she could, but with still enough pressure that it would jolt an awakening in Evie. She knew it would work, and Evie’s eyes shot open, a cry of pain coming out of her mouth as she tried to struggle upwards. Mal and Jay both held a shoulder of hers down, and Mal made sure she was in Evie’s line of sight as she calmed the girl down.

“Evie, Evie, it’s ok, it’s ok. It’s me, it’s just me.” Mal rushed out as Evie lay on the bed with frantic eyes, slowly stopping her movements. She could faintly hear Carlos open the front door and begin talking to Ben, Lonnie and Fairy Godmother, and she knew she had to act fast. “Evie, you need to listen to me, ok? I know you’re hurting but I’m making you better, I promise.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re by school. And we’re safe here, you’re with me, Jay and Carlos.”

Evie winced, squeezing her eyes shut as she processed the information. “It’s just us?”

“Well, not exactly.” Jay said, and Evie looked over at him. “Ben and Lonnie were with us. They wanted to take you to a healing centre. And they went to get Fairy Godmother.”

Evie’s eyes widened, looking between him and Mal. “She can’t know what happened. We stole the King’s car and went back to the Isle!”

Mal held Evie’s hands in her own, squeezing them reassuringly. “I know, I know. It’s ok. I don’t know what Ben and Lonnie told her, but hopefully it was a modified version of the truth.”

“We’re about to find out, anyways.” Jay said, hearing voices enter through the front door.

“She’s here?” Evie whisper shouted, panic in her voice.

Mal heard her panicked breaths and held her hands tighter, willing Evie to keep her eyes on her. “Evie, look at me. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. We’re going to go and talk to her.”

At this, Evie only panicked more. “Mal, you can’t leave me! Please, Mal -”

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. I’m right here.” Mal cut Evie’s ramblings off, bringing her hands to her mouth and placing gentle kisses on them. At this, Jay slipped off the bed and out the door, closing it behind him to try and stall Fairy Godmother more. “I’m not going anywhere, Princess.”

At the mention of that word, all the colour that Mal had worked so hard to bring back to Evie’s face was drained, and her hands went limp in Mal’s own. “Don’t call me that.” She shuddered out, her breaths getting shallower by the second.

Mal’s stomach lurched again, and she felt like she could throw up for the second time in just a few minutes. She was beginning to see how damaged Evie was from the whole ordeal, if only one word could trigger such a reaction in her. Mal hated how Uma and Harry’s torments had trespassed not only Evie’s physical, but also her psychological sanctity.

“I’m sorry, Evie. I promise I won’t call you that. It’s just me here, your Mal. You’re safe and we’re here together. It’s going to be ok.”

Evie looked at Mal as she spoke, saw the conviction in her eyes, and nodded slowly along. They continued to hold eye contact as they reconnected, tears welling up in both of their eyes with the knowledge that they were finally back together.

Outside the door, Jay and Carlos were struggling to keep Ben, Lonnie and Fairy Godmother away. 

“Boys, please. I know you’re worried, but you have to let me in the room. They are students under my care.” Fairy Godmother said, no malice in her voice, and arms placed at her sides unthreateningly. After Ben and Lonnie found her and told her Evie was hurt and that Mal was scared they would be sent back to the Isle, she was doing everything she could to show the kids that she would never let that happen. She didn’t even know what had occurred, but her mind feared the worst when Ben had the limousine that the Royals used to cross the Isle in his possession, and she saw both Auradonian and foreign swords stashed in the back. 

All she cared about at that moment, however, was the safety of her students.

Carlos and Jay looked at each other hesitantly. Carlos was standing behind Jay, with one hand on the door knob, preventing anyone from getting inside. 

“Fairy Godmother knows what you’re scared about. But we promise it isn’t going to happen.” Ben urged, trying to get them to see reason. It was incredible how quickly this situation had reverted all four VKs to the people they were on their first day at Auradon - scared, defensive, and trusting of nobody but themselves.

“You can’t promise that! There’s a council.” Jay said defiantly.

“I head that council, Jay.” Ben reminded him

“Not everything will work out in your favour! You think you can control what people will do but you don’t actually know them. Don’t make this promise, you can’t keep it and we all know it.”

Fairy Godmother tried again. “Jay, dear, it won’t happen. I can’t do anything to prove it right now, but you have to trust us. I know it’s against your nature, but try to look deeper. Look past it.”

“Evie needs Fairy Godmother’s help.” Lonnie looked at Jay directly, pleading with him. “Jay, please. Let her help, she can help.”

Jay held eye contact with Lonnie as she talked to him, and when he felt her conviction in the words, something inside of him broke. Tears spilled out of his eyes and his stance faltered, his voice cracking as he spoke. “You don’t know what Evie needs! She needs us! You don’t know what happened, what she went through. You don’t know us…you don’t know…we can’t go back, we can’t -”

He was cut off as Lonnie slowly stepped towards him, getting closer bit by bit until she placed an arm on his, and he crumbled into her. She was probably the only one there strong enough to hold up Jay in his state, and she wrapped her arms around him, letting him cry into her shoulder.

“It’s ok, Jay. It’s ok. Let it out. Let us help.”

Jay eventually nodded into Lonnie’s shoulder, and let her lead him out of the way of the door, leaving only Carlos there.

“If you try and go in there in a hurry, Mal’s gonna lose it.” He said to Ben and Fairy Godmother. “You can’t make any rash movements. Don’t go to Evie. Let Mal come to you.”

Fairy Godmother nodded, and she took another step forward, only to be stopped by Carlos’ outstretched hand. “I need to know you understand. We’ve been in Auradon for a while now, and you think you know Mal. You might think you know how to get through to her. But this isn’t the Mal you know. This is the Mal from the Isle who is ready to maim anyone she doesn’t trust. I need to know that you understand.”

Nodding again, Fairy Godmother reached up and gently lowered Carlos’ hand. “I swear to you that I understand. I don’t take this lightly, Carlos. I will follow your lead.”

Eventually convinced that Fairy Godmother understood, he nodded, and let out a deep breath. He knocked on the door, although to Fairy Godmother it sounded like a very specific pattern of knocks, and after a few long seconds, the door was opened from the inside.

Before anyone could step inside, Carlos put his hand against the door, blocking any movement as he didn’t know what Mal would do. He looked up to see Mal standing beside the bed, blocking Evie from view. Between them, and everyone else at the door, a forcefield was shimmering.

“I’m sorry, Mal.” 

Mal shook her head, not blaming Carlos. She knew they’d get inside eventually. “It’s not your fault. How is Jay?”

“Lonnie has him.”

“Good.” Mal nodded, taking a deep breath in before looking to the woman standing beside Carlos. “Hi, Fairy Godmother.”

Carlos lowered his arm slowly, so that Fairy Godmother could come into view and stand beside him. She gave a warm smile to Mal, and immediately noticed the shield she had placed.

“Hello, dear one.”

Fairy Godmother understood what Carlos had said to her. She realised that this version of Mal was not the Mal she had tutored, and come to raise as almost one of her own. But she did _not_ believe this was the Mal from the Isle. This was just Mal, who was terrified both for herself, her friends, and her Evie, who was (as Fairy Godmother could see from the second they stepped out of the limousine on their first day), the most important person in the world to her. 

She could see how Carlos _thought_ this Mal would lash out if she was feeling threatened. She believed it herself. She could see why Mal would sooner lock herself and the ones she loved away forever, than leave their fate in the hands of people she didn’t trust. 

But she could also see that this Mal was exhausted, and ready to collapse. She could tell that whatever the girl had been through in the last day or more was slowly crumbling her inside. She could see it in the way her hands shook, in the way her eyes hollowed, that whatever Mal had just put herself through, likely for Evie’s benefit, had made the girl vulnerable and weak. 

So Fairy Godmother wasn’t afraid. She knew Mal, despite what Carlos had warned. And she knew what she had to do.

“That’s an impressive shield, Mal. You’ve been practicing.” Fairy Godmother noted in a gentle voice, watching the shield glow. 

“Thank you.” Mal said slowly, an uncertain tone to her voice as if she was surprised that that was the first thing Fairy Godmother decided to say.

“Now Mal, I don’t know what has gone on here…” Fairy Godmother started, and as soon as she said that she saw Mal take a small step back, her mouth opening defensively. Fairy Godmother knew she needed to continue straight away, before the younger girl got the wrong idea. “And I don’t need to know right now either. Please know that. All I am here for, is you, and Evie, and Carlos and Jay. That is the only thing I am concerned about, ok?”

Mal nodded after a while, her movements slow still, looking at Fairy Godmother as if she was calculating her every step.

“I want you to know that I’m proud of you, for opening the door for us. I’m proud of your shield. And I’m proud of all the other magic you’ve already used. I can feel it in the room. And I know it was used to do good. Because you are good.”

“Thank you.” Mal said again, although her voice cracked on the last word, the weight of the kindness easily breaking through her already fractured state.

“You’re very welcome, dear.” Fairy Godmother replied, still standing next to Carlos in the door. When Mal looked up at her she met her eyes softly, giving her the warmest smile she could, and then she watched the girl start to crumble.

Mal reached back, and Fairy Godmother saw Evie’s hand come to meet it, intertwining their fingers. “Evie’s hurt. It’s my fault, and I can’t fix her.” Mal choked out, hand coming up to cover the sob that left her mouth.

The shield Mal had held strong dropped away, and Fairy Godmother knew that this was Mal’s way of asking for help. She crossed the room, and her heart faltered when Mal reached out to her before she even got there with her free hand, needing the support. She wrapped Mal in a hug, feeling the girl fall apart against her. After a while she directed Mal to sit on the side of the bed, and when she moved, Fairy Godmother finally got the chance to see Evie.

It was a good thing these kids had already given her all the heart attacks she would ever need in their first few months of being at Auradon Prep, because Fairy Godmother was sure that the sight of an injured Evie would have left her gasping if she hadn’t prepared herself. The injuries on her face screamed a traumatic event had occurred, not to mention the cut on her neck, and the scars littered on her arms and hands, which Fairy Godmother recognised had already began to be healed by Mal. She was disturbed by the carved letters on Evie’s cheek, and more so of the dark purple undertones that the cuts were taking on. 

She also suspected Evie had internal injuries, considering laying her on a bed in the middle of the room wasn’t the safest place to put someone if you were concerned about outsiders intruding. It was beginning to dawn on Fairy Godmother how serious the situation that had occurred was, and the feeling that this did not happen on Auradon soil was growing stronger.

“Oh, Evie.” Fairy Godmother breathed out as she crouched down beside the bed where Mal was sitting, still holding her hand. She watched as Evie’s eyes followed her, and she gave her a warm smile as well, putting her other hand over the top of where Mal and Evie’s hands were clasped on the bed. She was at a genuine loss of what to say. She desperately wanted to know what had happened, so she knew how best to help, but knew as soon as she asked that both girls would shrink away. As Mal just proved before, the less she asked, the more likely they were to open up to her. “I’m going to be right here for you, no matter for how long, and no matter what you need, ok? All of you.” She said with conviction, looking back to make sure Carlos, and Jay behind him knew that was for them too. 

After a few minutes of sitting in comforting silence with them, and hearing Mal’s breathing come back down to a normal rhythm, she moved her hand off Mal and Evie’s, and gently brushed at a fading rope burn on Evie’s wrist. “Is this what you were doing before I arrived?” She gently asked Mal, looking up at her.

Mal nodded her confirmation, staring blankly at the burn on Evie, and Fairy Godmother continued softly. “I always hoped all the healing spells you requested to learn would never have to be put to use, but I suppose you know better than me of what evil people are capable of.”

Mal just nodded again, tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t know enough. It’s not enough.”

“You’re enough, Mal.” Evie whispered out and squeezed Mal’s hand, earning a choked sob from Mal.

  
“She’s right, Mal. You are.” Fairy Godmother smiled gently again, looking between the two girls. “And I’m here to help. I have something that can fix this.”

“You brought your wand?” Mal questioned her, eyes wide. She had been having magic lessons with Fairy Godmother properly since the defeat of Maleficent, but never once had she seen Fairy Godmother use magic herself. She was surprised to learn that unlike her own type of magic that swum through her blood and appeared out of her hands, Fairy Godmother’s was brought out by her wand. Fairy Godmother had said she would never again use her wand for magic, but perhaps she had made an exception today.

“No, Mal. The thing I have that can fix this, is an amazingly talented student with all the strength and knowledge she needs right in her hands.”

Realising she was referring to her, Mal shook her head vehemently, the tears still in her eyes. “I can’t!” 

“You can. Now is not the time to doubt yourself. You’re the only one who can do this, Mal.”

Mal squeezed her eyes shut, processing what Fairy Godmother was saying. She knew, at least, that she had pulled off the healing spells before. But her brain was fried. She felt like she could sleep for an entire month and never wake up. Her bones ached, like she had lived a thousand lives.

But then she looked at Evie, her entire world, and knew whatever she was feeling, Evie was feeling it worse. Evie smiled encouragingly at her, and Mal almost laughed at the fact that Evie was the one helping _her_ in this situation. Mal was the reason the light of her life was bed ridden, and if Fairy Godmother of all people believed she could be the one to fix it, then she had to try.

“Ok. I can do it. I’m going to fix this, Eves, I promise.” Mal said out loud, squeezing Evie’s hand before she stood up next to the bed. “We work from bad to worse, right?” She asked Fairy Godmother for reassurance, even though she knew the answer.

Fairy Godmother smiled, nodding her head and watching as Mal looked Evie over, picking out objectively least worst injury on her person - a bruise on her forehead. Mal’s hands hovered over it, the right words were muttered, and the glow appeared from her hands, leaving a perfect streak of unblemished skin in their wake. 

She watched her student work, gaining more confidence by the second, and was relieved to see Evie return back to her old self, piece by piece. If she noticed Mal purposefully avoiding Evie’s cheek she didn’t say anything, mostly because she didn’t want to have that conversation just yet. From the second she had taken a look at Evie’s cheek, the colours brewing under the cuts had caused a bad feeling to sink into her bones. But from watching Mal literally pull herself together by her last tethers to fix Evie’s superficial wounds, she knew revealing her suspicions would break the girl completely. 

All she could do at this point was wait, and hope to everything good and pure in the world that she was wrong, because heavens knew these kids didn’t deserve any more suffering than they had clearly been through already.

 


	6. Aftermath

Vision slowly came back to Evie as her eyes crept open and she adjusted to her surroundings. Her last memory was in the little house by Auradon Prep, staring at Mal’s concentrated face as she worked along her injuries, bit by bit piecing her back together. 

_“Sleep, Evie.”_ Mal had whispered, and her eyes immediately followed the command, exhaustion taking over.

Now, she was awake. She tried to sense how tired and sore her body still felt and what time it was, when her eyes caught a strange sight. The drowsiness of sleep had cleared, and she was staring up at the ceiling…of her bedroom on the Isle? 

No, surely she was still unwell. There was no way she could be back in her mother’s castle. Not after everything she had gone through. Not after everything her friends had done to rescue her. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut, and slowly opened them again, peeking back up at the ceiling.

The cracks in the roof were unmistakable. The once glamourised paintings and decor rotting away were a sight Evie could never forget - it was what she woke up to almost every day of her life on the Isle. She took a deep breath in, willing herself to remain calm. She didn’t know what was going on, but she wasn’t about to panic and make a stupid decision. After one last time of closing her eyes only to see the same ceiling, she opened her mouth.

“Mal?”

Silence. 

“Mal?” She tried again, willing some confidence to enter her voice. She listened for a response, a sound, anything. She didn’t dare look around her for fear of what she would see. Just as she was about to call out again, a movement entered the room. She let herself calm - Mal had finally heard her and come for her. She turned her palm outwards on the bed, a common action between her and Mal which would result in their hands joining together. 

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.” Evie said to Mal, still staring at the ceiling, waiting for her hand to join hers.

Only, Mal’s hand would never join hers. Because Mal wasn’t there. Instead, a bigger, more hardened hand gripped Evie’s wrist, tugging in a familiar harsh way. A voice pierced the air, one that was definitely not Mal’s, and one Evie hoped she would never have to hear again.

“Oh Evie, darling, _never_! Mommy missed you _so_ much.”

Evie’s head was reeling within seconds, her eyes growing wide with horror and her breath leaving her body altogether. She turned her head to the right and saw her mother standing by her bed, grip tight on her wrist and a sinister look in her eyes.

“M-Mother?” She gasped out, eyes still locked onto the way her mother stared her down, like prey in the night.

“But of course it is me! You are home now, child. Where you belong. _Where you will stay._ ” The Evil Queen responded, leaning in closer to Evie as she slithered out the last words like a threat.

Evie shook her head, eyes still wide, disbelief and terror paralysing her body. “No…” Was all she managed to get out, feeling her throat lock up.

“Come now, Evie. Enough of these games. Surely you don’t think you can evade my grasp? Surely you don’t think you will ever be free from me?” The Evil Queen tutted as she removed her hold on Evie’s wrist, bringing her hands up to straighten the crown on her head.

When she felt her wrist be freed, Evie wanted to move it, but her entire body was in shock. She had no conception of what was going on, and she couldn’t get her head to stop from dizzying long enough to figure it out.

“Where is Mal? And Jay and Carlos?”

The Evil Queen only smirked, crossing her arms and shaking her head down at Evie. “You always carried the most unfortunate company here, darling. Those street rats are nothing. You could have done so much better. In fact, you can start now.”    
Evie followed her gaze as The Evil Queen turned to the bedroom door and two figures walked in. The smell hit Evie first, before she saw the teal and red leather clothed bodies join The Evil Queen, staring intently down at Evie as well. 

The paralysis that had overcome Evie’s body quickly evaporated when she saw Uma and Harry appear. She had no time to question why the pirates were in her mother’s castle, she only knew she wanted to be nowhere near them. She cried out in fear, thrashing any part of her body that she hoped would move in an effort to get away. But now something new was stopping her. She looked down in horror to see the same ropes from the pirate ship reappear across her body, anchoring her tightly to the bed, restricting any movement her hands, arms or legs could hope to make. 

“What’s happening?” 

Her question of fear was only met with sinister cackles from the three people in the room, watching her as she continued to panic herself into a fit. 

“Why are you confused, Princess? Don’t you remember my promise? You’ll never forget my name. You belong to me. I _own_ you.” Uma exclaimed, pulling a small knife from her pocket as she stared smugly at Evie.

At the sight of the knife, Evie’s cheek burned white hot. She screamed in pain, feeling as if Uma was carving into her skin all over again. The burning sensation streamed through her face, down her neck, right along to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her whole body felt like it was lit on fire. Evie didn’t know where the ringing in her ears was coming from, but if she could see herself she would realise it was her own screams.

After agonising minutes, Uma finally put the knife back into her pocket, and the scorch in Evie’s cheek died down instantaneously, remaining at a dull burn. She gasped out, trying to shove air into her lungs through panicked breaths.

“Never gets old.” Uma laughed her maniacal laugh, wiping a fake tear from her eye. She then straightened up, tapping Harry’s shoulder as they turned to address The Evil Queen. “But where are our manners! We came as soon as we heard with what you requested. I wouldn’t miss this show for the world.”

Before Evie could wonder what they were talking about, Harry pulled out a vial filled with bubbling clear liquid and handed it over to The Evil Queen with a small bow.

“No!” Evie yelled out, recognising in an instant the liquid as acid. She tried harder than ever to escape but it was no use, the ropes around her only tightened, trapping her in inevitable doom. 

“Oh Evie, you have disappointed me so much.” Her mother started, as she unscrewed the lid to the first vial. “Just look at you, you’ve forgotten your place. First, you completely lose any regard for your appearance. Then you fail to catch the attention of any one of Auradon’s many princes. You turn your back on evil. And you give poor Uma and Harry such a hard time when all they wanted was to have a little fun with you.”

“Mother, please!”

“Please?” The Evil Queen stared down at her incredulously. “Reduced to begging like some common whore? You will rue the day you ever left my grasp, child, believe me.”

Evie screamed as she watched her mother tip the liquid of acid down onto her body. She felt white hot pain swim through her veins. Her vision fazed out, her body felt like it was being pushed, pulled and twisted. She was drowning, her surroundings black, her body like fire. Voices in her ear cackled, yelled and screamed. They were her own, her mothers, the pirates, Mal, Jay, Carlos. She tried to listen for a voice in the chaos to guide her but she was falling, plummeting through the nothingness. 

She thought about giving up entirely and letting the air take her down. But then a light above her cracked through the darkness. She tried to reach up to it but it was no use. She called out. She called for Mal. Then, with miraculous strength, she heaved herself up through the darkness, and came crashing back to reality.

—————

It had been two hours since Mal had finished healing Evie. Well, almost healing Evie. By the time she had healed her rope burns, bruises and scrapes, she was exhausted. Exerting that amount of focus and energy into her magic, needing every single utterance of a spell to be perfect, had drained her completely. Fairy Godmother had gently forced her into taking a break. Evie's ribs could wait, and they both wanted to avoid the U M A cuts on her cheek. Fairy Godmother said as long as Evie didn’t make sudden movements, her ribs would heal on their own. For now, with Mal barely being able to stand upright, that was going to have to be good enough. 

By that point, Jay and Carlos were both in the room sitting on chairs close to the bed. Lonnie and Ben were also there, but as time went on, both kept checking their watches periodically.

“We’ll be ok, guys. Go to Cotillion. You can’t wait any longer, especially you, Ben.” Carlos said for what felt like the hundredth time. Both Lonnie and Ben had refused to leave despite the VKs insistence that they would be alright for a few hours. 

“Please go.” Mal said, looking up at them from where she sat pressed against the bed, holding Evie’s hand. “Evie’s already going to be crushed we’re missing Cotillion, she would hate to hear you didn’t go as well.”

Lonnie and Ben smiled softly at her, nodding. They both knew that was true, and they knew they had to show up to Cotillion. After everything they’d been through, however, it seemed like an insignificant event. They weren’t sure how they were going to go and be with their peers who would never know suffering like Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos had just experienced. They weren’t sure how they could put on a smile knowing Evie almost died today. 

“Fairy Godmother will be with you guys. It’ll be fine.” 

Fairy Godmother looked at Mal, surprised to hear those words coming out of her mouth. “Mal? Are you sure? I am prepared to stay here with you. It’s more important.”

Mal shook her head and gave Fairy Godmother a grateful look through her tired eyes. “You’re the headmistress. You have to be there for everyone. What you’ve done for us today already…I can’t repay you, ever. But you have to be with the others now. I promise we will be fine for the time being.”

Feeling the conviction in Mal’s words, Fairy Godmother decided to outright trust her, and nodded. “Ok Mal, I know you have the strength to handle anything should it arise. But I’m coming right back here after Cotillion.”

“Us too.” Ben said, with Lonnie nodding.

“We’d love that.” Jay replied, speaking on behalf of all the VKs. “Evie especially.”

And so, Lonnie, Ben and Fairy Godmother departed from the little house, leaving Mal, Jay and Carlos sitting around Evie’s bed. They mostly sat in silence, comforted by each other’s presence. Comforted by the steady rise and fall of Evie’s chest. They were all exhausted but didn’t dare to close their eyes, not yet ready to let the vulnerability of sleep hit them.

So yes, it had been two hours since Mal had finished healing Evie. She gently gazed at her girlfriend, lying in the bed. How her hair splayed out on the pillow in soft waves. How her lips parted ever so slightly with every breath that entered and exited. How her hands curled so perfectly into Mal’s, safe from the world. 

Then, she saw how her eyes began to rapidly move under her eyelids, and how the start of a grimace creased her perfect face. Mal, Jay and Carlos sat upright in their chairs at this first sign of discomfort from Evie. They had immediately noticed the frown as she had been otherwise deadly still for the past two hours. They shared a look of worry before staring back at the girl on the bed, wondering where this would lead.

“Mal?” Evie called out, eyes closed.

Mal studied Evie hard, wondering whether she was awake or still deep asleep. She was about to respond, when Evie called out again, more panic in her voice this time.

“Mal?”

This time Mal responded by holding Evie’s hand tighter, rubbing her thumb in soothing patterns over her wrist.

“I’m here, Evie. Are you awake? Can you open your eyes for me?” Mal tried, only to be met with silence. She briefly looked up at Jay and Carlos in confusion to see if they held any answers for her. Both just gave shrugs, and all three went back to watching Evie.

A few more minutes passed, and the tension was slowly dripping away from Mal. Evie hadn’t called out again, and Mal was hoping the grimace would disappear from her face altogether and she would fall back into a peaceful sleep.

Mal should have been wiser than to hope, because the next thing she knew, Evie had gone rigid in the bed. Acting on instinct, Mal reached up and grabbed her shoulder, yelling at Carlos to do the same for the other and for Jay to hold her legs. She knew Evie was about to lash out, and wanted to keep her as still as possible to protect her broken ribs.

Sure enough only seconds later, Evie began to thrash her limbs in the bed, crying out. Mal tried her best to calm her down by speaking to her, by keeping her grip steady but gentle, trying to will her awake. Instead of an answer, she was only met with the same gut wrenching scream that she had heard fly out of Evie’s mouth on the pirate ship. The same scream she was sure would forever haunt her own nightmares. 

Mal felt her breath leave her lungs at the sound, and her eyes grew wide in horror when upon looking at Evie’s face, the U M A cut was glowing white hot, shining through Evie’s skin. Mal could see Jay and Carlos out of the corner of her eye falter when they too heard Evie’s screams. They clearly didn’t anticipate ever having to be put through that again. 

“Evie, I’m here. Wake up, baby. It’s ok, wake up.” Mal repeated over and over again, trying to get it to cut through the sounds of Evie’s agony. Tears sprung in her eyes the longer Evie’s pain went on, and the sound rang in her ears so much she didn’t even realise Evie had eventually stopped screaming when Jay called out her name.

“Mal, we have to wake her. She’s hurting herself.” He said, referring to how she was damaging her ribs by moving so much.

“I’m trying! She’s not responding to my calls. And I’m not using the cut on her face again. It’s clearly doing something to her.” 

Suddenly, Evie went still under them. They all looked at each other before slowly taking their hands off her, wanting to make sure she wouldn’t lash out again. She didn’t, and she had gone so still that it frightened Mal, who gently placed her fingers on Evie’s wrist, letting out a low sigh of relief upon feeling her pulse. 

  
As soon as she took her hand away, Evie’s hand reached out, fingers grasping at the air. Mal took the opportunity and enclosed their hands together, speaking softly to her.

“Come on, E. I’m here, we’re here. Please wake up, it’s ok now. Come back to me.” 

At Mal’s last words she gently tugged on Evie’s hand and miraculously Evie’s eyes shot open, a cry coming out of her mouth. Carlos and Mal stopped her from lurching forward and pressed her shoulders back to the bed so she didn’t do further damage to herself. However, it became rapidly clear that Evie didn’t see this as the case. She brought her hands up to their arms, trying to shove their grip off her, grasping at their hands as if they were tying her down.

Mal’s eyes widened in realisation and although she didn’t want to let go completely because she knew Evie would just try to sit up, her grip loosened. “Evie, it’s ok. We’re not trying to hurt you. It’s ok, E, it’s ok.” She tried to make eye contact with her, wanting her to see who was in front of her so she would calm down. Evie, however, was looking anywhere but at the three of them, pain in her eyes.

“No!” She yelled out, showing none of Mal’s words sunk into her. “Why are you doing this to me? Let me go!”

“Evie, it’s Mal. It’s just Mal, Jay and Carlos. It’s just us.” Mal said, studying her closely. She was beginning to wonder if Evie was still asleep because of how she was responding to them. This was not usual behaviour of Evie when she woke up from a nightmare and they would know - nightmares were not unfamiliar territory for any of them. Mal had never seen Evie be trapped in the nightmare, she without fail would always be aware of her surroundings the second she woke up. This was something different, and it was terrifying them all.

“No! Let me go!”

“Mal, her face is still glowing.” Jay murmured, staring at the U M A continuing to burn bright on her cheek.

“Please! Please, I’m sorry! Don’t do this to me! Please!” Evie begged, and it was too much for Mal to bear. She let go of Evie, a sob choking out of her mouth as she took in how distressed Evie was. She had no idea of what was going on and how to fix it, and she couldn’t bear to be the cause of Evie’s pain even if she was still trapped in a nightmare.

“Let her go. Let her go!” Mal yelled at Jay and Carlos when they didn’t move their hands off Evie the first time she told them. At her insistence, they both immediately stepped away, staring at her reaction. Evie took advantage of the freedom and hauled herself up into a sitting position, which everyone immediately regretted.

Evie’s scream of pain was briefer than what they had come to experience over the past day, but it hurt to hear just as much. As soon as she had sat up, the piercing pain in her ribs had pushed her down again, and Carlos’s hand caught the back of her head before it hit the headboard behind her. If Mal was unsure whether Evie was awake before, she knew she was definitely awake now.

“Evie!” She yelled in worry as she watched Evie fall. She moved closer to the bed, arms stretched out but scared of what to do.

“Mal.” Evie whimpered out, her voice laced in hurt but sounding very much like the Evie they all knew. Her eyes were closed in a grimace, tears streaming down her face, her body contorted in pain. She felt comforted by Carlos’s soft hand against her head, but needed to feel Mal’s presence. “Mal, I need you.”

Another sob left Mal’s mouth before she could stop it, and she moved slowly, not being able to bear another foreign reaction from Evie. She sat on the edge of the bed and Evie instinctually moved closer to her.

“It hurts so much, M.” Evie whispered, and Mal could only imagine how bad it must be because Evie barely ever complained. She panicked, becoming unsure of her abilities again.

“Ok, it’s ok. I’m going to fix it, E. I promise.” 

Mal wracked her brain for a spell, cursing her past self for not asking Fairy Godmother about the ribs while she was still here. She had to use something to temporarily mask the pain, and she shakily brought her hands over to Evie’s chest.

“This body- this body ha - this -”

Carlos cut a stuttering Mal off, resting a hand over hers gently. “Mal, take a breath. You can do this.”

Mal stared up at him and nodded, taking a few deep breaths in and out to clear her head. “ _This body has pain with more to come, but for now let it rest and make it numb_.” She knew after a minute that it had worked because the tension drained from Evie’s body, and she was met with a glimpse into her mesmerising eyes as they opened.

“Oh, Evie.” Mal whispered, tears swelling in her eyes as they reconnected. She quickly moved to sit back against the headboard and took Evie in her arms. Evie curled into Mal and rested her head in the crook of her neck, rejoicing at the temporary relief from the pain that had plagued her for hours on end. “It’s ok now, E. We’ve got you. It’s ok.”

Carlos and Jay sat on the bed alongside them, watching with sad eyes as they saw Evie come apart against Mal. Let alone what she had gone through on the ship, whatever had just plagued her dreams was clearly horrifying, and had taken a toll on them all, her especially. They all sat in silence for a while, letting Evie grieve and process what had occurred, and being comforted in each other’s presence.

“What happened?” Evie eventually murmured, still pressed tightly into Mal.

“We could ask you the same thing. Can you remember?”

Evie nodded in reply to Mal, shuddering at the thought of it. “I mean after. It was like I was awake, but I wasn’t conscious. I could feel you all around me, but in my head I wasn’t here. It was horrible.”

“It’s ok now. We’re here and we’re not going anywhere.” Mal said with a kiss to the top of Evie’s head. She kept her arms around her, gently moving them in soothing patterns but being careful to not make her feel trapped, or press against any areas that would drag up bad memories. Mal didn’t have to ask about the nightmare, she knew Evie would talk when she was ready.

“When I woke up, I was back in my bed on the Isle.”

“In the hideout?”

  
Evie shook her head to Carlos’s question. “No. At mother’s castle. I was so dazed. I thought I would be with Mal, and then she showed up. I couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on, let alone process what she was saying to me. She talked like I would never be able to leave. Like I would be trapped there forever.”

“Oh Eves.” Mal murmured in sympathy, knowing that was one of her worst nightmares.

“And then Uma and Harry appeared. I should have known it was a dream then. I should have convinced myself it wasn’t real and I should have tried to wake up. It would have saved everyone a lot of hurt.”

“Hey, Eves, don’t be so hard on yourself. We all know how nightmares go. There’s no way you could have comprehended what was going on.”

A soft smile appeared on Evie’s face as she reached out to squeeze Jay’s hand in thanks for his words.

“Uma pulled out her knife and then the pain hit. It was awful. Like it was happening all over again. Except this time the pain coursed throughout my whole body. It felt like it was on fire.”

Mal noticed Evie’s hand absentmindedly head for her cheek as if to touch the letters carved into her skin, and she diverted its path, instead taking her hand in her own and squeezing it softly. 

“In the dream, Uma acted like she knew this was going to happen. Like she knew she could cause that pain to me.” Evie then turned up to gaze at Mal, a hard-to-read look on her face. “Mal, did you try and use a spell to heal it?”

“I didn’t. I fixed everything but that and your ribs. But…I know Fairy Godmother knows something about it. I saw her staring at it, and she never brought it up. After what just happened, we have to get answers from her.”

“Is this something to be worried about? Because it sounds like something to be worried about.” Carlos said, trying not to let the panic seep into his voice.

“It better not be. If the universe tries to throw any more shit at us I’m going to punch it in the face.” Mal grumbled, causing a genuine laugh to rise out of Evie’s mouth for the first time in a long time.

“I don’t even want to think about it.” Evie said, sighing out.

“Do you remember what woke you up?” Carlos asked.

“After Uma finished toying with me, she showed me what they really were there for. Mother was so angry with me. They gave her acid -” Evie was cut off by all three of them who made some kind of noise in-between angered growls to gasps of horror and a few curse words thrown in. “The last thing I remember was her pouring it on me. Everything went black after that. I felt like I was falling through the air into nothingness. I thought I was dying. And then just when I lost hope, I saw a light. And something pulled me back. Someone.”

Tears shone through Mal’s eyes again as she listened to what Evie had to endure, and she felt Evie push closer against her when she talked about Mal pulling her out of the dream. At least she could be comforted by the fact that she did something to save her, despite everything else she failed to protect her from. 

—————

Another hour had passed before Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos heard a car approaching the house again. Despite the timing working out for it to be Ben, Lonnie and Fairy Godmother, both Jay and Carlos were up in an instant, guarding the door. 

“Guys? It’s Ben.”

“Who else?” Jay called back, not above erring on the side of caution.

“Lonnie and Fairy Godmother. Just us, like we promised.”

Jay and Carlos shared a look and nodded at each other before opening the door, letting them back in. They lead everyone to the bedroom where Mal and Evie were still, although Mal had sat more upright against the headboard, allowing Evie to lean back against her, facing everyone.

“Evie, your ribs!” Lonnie exclaimed upon seeing Evie sitting up.

Evie smiled at her friend but shook her head. “They’re not healed. Mal has a numbing spell on them. It’s good enough for now.”

“Well done, dear.” Fairy Godmother complemented Mal, smiling at the slight blush that appeared on Mal’s face. 

“How was um…how was Cotillion?” 

Ben shrugged his shoulders at Carlos’ absently asked question, not wanting to go into too much detail for fear of making them all sad they missed it, but also just because they were eager to get back to them the whole time, so he barely noticed it. “It was fine. Although it was our second time on a ship today and I have to say this experience was a lot more pleasant.”

After making the joke he immediately widened his eyes, worried he had made light of a traumatic experience. However, Evie let out a burst of laughter, followed by the rest of the VKs who looked like they could use some humour at this point.

“Sounds like our evening was more interesting than yours was then.” Mal said, squeezing Evie’s hand. When she looked up and saw Ben, Lonnie and Fairy Godmother’s apprehensive faces, she spoke again. “You guys better take a seat.”

They reacted about just as well as Mal thought they would react, and she was particularly watching Fairy Godmother’s expression as Evie recounted the nightmare and its aftermath. When a look of sombre acceptance had rested on her face for far too long, Mal had to confront her about it.

“You’re not surprised to hear this.” 

Fairy Godmother paused for a while before answering. “You’re right, Mal. I’m not surprised. I’m angry that you’re all going through this, and I had hoped it wouldn’t happen -”

“Hope is for suckers.” Mal muttered. “Most of the time.” She added, when Evie elbowed her gently.

“Please, Fairy Godmother. What do these cuts on my face mean?”

“I don’t wish to make any bold statements before being sure. But right from the first moment I saw them I did suspect. There are deep purple undertones to the cuts. This means they are infected. But it’s not the same kind of infection one naturally receives. Uma had most likely laced her knife with a type of poison, and this type seeps into the veins of a person. It doesn’t attack the physical body, but the mind. Most occur in dreams, as you have experienced. It makes the person lose sense of what is real and fake. It is often tied to trauma, and can bring back memories of pain and hurt that feel so viscerally real the person ends up hurting themselves in real life. It starts in dreams, but after time it does start to affect day to day life. It can make a person lose their sensibilities. Lose themselves. And if left untreated, it can…”

“It can what?” Jay asked bluntly.

Fairy Godmother shook her head, folding her hands across her skirt as if trying to gain her senses. “I don’t wish to worry you. The chances of it happening before we find a cure are very slim. But I won’t lie to you. It has been known, in the past, that if this goes untreated, the poison can take over someone’s brain driving them to such a point of insanity that it kills them.”

Mal had steeled herself before hearing this, expecting the worst. However, no matter how much she prepared for it, hearing that Evie had poison in her veins that could slowly kill her struck her deep in the gut. She gasped in her breath, just as everyone else in the room did. Mal heard Evie’s audible gulp and she locked their hands together tighter, wanting to comfort her in any way she could.

“Ok.” Evie squeaked out, then cleared her throat. “Ok.” She repeated, some more confidence appearing. “But you said it can be treated, right? So how do we do that?”

“We should really visit the Healing Centre to discuss this. They are much more versed on remedies than I am.”

“You know.” Mal said forcefully, and although she wasn’t angry at Fairy Godmother, (she could never be angry at what she had done for them) she was so beaten down and frustrated that they had hit another road block even after rescuing Evie. She just wanted to know what they had ahead of them, so they could get over it and back to normal. “I know you do.”

Fairy Godmother looked increasingly uncomfortable, but one look at Mal’s face made her cave. She didn’t want to be the cause of more hurt for these kids, but not telling them would only hurt them more. “It is treated through a potion that takes one week to brew.”

“That’s not too bad, right? Most potions aren’t ready overnight anyways.” Ben said, trying to bring some optimism back into the group. But Mal just shook her head, still staring at Fairy Godmother. It couldn’t be that simple.

“What goes into the potion? What is the key ingredient?” She demanded, then softened. “Please, we can handle it. We have to know what we’re up against.”

Letting out her deepest sigh yet, Fairy Godmother spoke and in doing so, confirmed the VKs worst fears. “The potion requires either the blade of the poisoned weapon, or drops of blood of the person who administered it.”

“No!” Carlos yelled out angrily, looking at Jay who had his fists clenched, staring at the ground. 

Evie let out a sob and Mal, shell shocked, stayed silent as she let the news sink into her.

They thought they were safe from the Isle. They had risked life and death to get Evie home and just when everything seemed ok, Evie’s life was now on a ticking time bomb. Mal couldn’t see any way around it. Her body was exhausted, her brain was fried. But the sinking feeling in her gut only grew, until it overcame her so much she thought she would throw up. 

Unless they could magically procure some of Uma’s blood, they had to go back to Isle for the knife, or Uma herself. The place they hated the most. The place they would almost certainly not make it out alive of again.

The VKs all shared a look and knew they had been thinking the exact same thing - anything but the Isle.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no! why can't i give these kids a break? :((( is it back to the isle for the VKs? or will they find a solution in auradon? if you have any thoughts let me know in a comment what you think is going to happen or what you want to see happen! you're all the best!


	7. Hope

The sun was setting through the windows of the small house by Auradon Prep as another day passed its occupants by. It had almost been 24 hours since the VKs had learnt from Fairy Godmother they would have to go back to the Isle to find a cure for Evie. After another rough night of little sleep and nightmarish dreams, they had decided to do their best to let go of their fears about what was to come. They had barely recovered from the last trip to the Isle, and if they had to go back, they would need all the strength they had. 

As Evie was bed ridden, the four of them had crowded in and around the bed for the day, sharing stories and laughter, comfort and closeness. The boys had brought in all of their favourite foods and pyjamas so they could be as comfortable as possible. By the end of the day, the smiles that adorned their faces showed no signs of four kids who had just been through hell and back.

Jay and Carlos had just left the small house, taking Dude for a walk around the grounds while the sun was still out for the day. That left Mal and Evie in the bedroom. The walls were painted a glowing orange from the sunset and the air around them was soft and serene. Mal stood by the edge of the bed, arms held out over Evie’s chest as she whispered an incantation under her breath. Evie felt the glow from Mal’s hands inside her body, warm rays dancing around her broken ribs as the spell once again masked the pain as it had been doing since the night before.

She stared with warm eyes up at Mal as she watched her work. Anyone could see that Mal was in her element here. The way she cared for Evie, the way her hands were slow and concentrated, the way her movements were gentle, like she was touching the most precious thing to ever exist in the world. It made Evie’s heart flutter, and despite everything that was going on around them, she could exist and be safe in these moments.

After a while Mal stopped her mutterings, clearly satisfied with her work. Her eyes moved from Evie’s ribs up to her face, a soft smile appearing as their eyes met. Her hands glided up to where her eyes looked, delicately tucking hair behind her ear and smoothing the rest down on the pillow.

Evie’s hand caught Mal’s and she laced their fingers together, pressing kisses to each knuckle. 

“I love you.” She whispered into Mal’s hand, and Mal felt her breath brush across her skin, sending goosebumps all the way up her arm.

“I love you too.”

“C’mere.”

Like a spell, Mal followed Evie’s request without hesitation, softly laying on her side on the bed. She pulled Evie onto her side as well, and the two found themselves laying so close to each other they could feel every tiny puff of breath the other let out of their mouth.

“Hey beautiful.” Mal whispered in the serenity of the room, garnering a soft blush from Evie.

“Hi.” 

Mal’s hand found it’s way onto the small of Evie’s back, rubbing soft circles over and over again. Evie let her eyes close in content, moving her forehead forward an inch to rest against Mal’s. 

Lips met lips in the softest of kisses, not wanting any brash movements to disturb their safe cocoon. After a few minutes they separated, happy to lay pressed against each other warmly.

“I missed this.”

“Me too, Eves. The hours we were forced apart on the Isle were the longest of my life.”

“No, Mal.” Evie murmured, kissing Mal’s cheek. “I meant I missed being close with you. Letting the world stop and just be. Getting lost in your eyes, laying with you.”

“We can stay here forever if that’s what will make you happy.”

Evie’s eyes clenched shut, like she couldn’t imagine a more precious thing to come out of Mal’s mouth. “Mal, you’re too good. You’re…you’re everything. My everything. You always put me before anything and I’ll love you for the rest of my days for it but baby, what about you?”

“What do you mean?” Mal’s face scrunched up so adorably Evie thought her heart would burst and she kissed the tip of her nose softly.

“How long has it been since we had the chance to do this?” She gestured to themselves, pressed together on the bed. “Just, be together. Be still.”

Mal was silent, tracing back in thought. When she couldn’t come up with an answer, Evie spoke again.

“Before you left, the Royal Tour had been going on for weeks. When I was on the ship -” She faltered slightly at the memory before feeling Mal press closer, (if that was even possible), and cradle her protectively in her arms. “I tried to think about the last time I could remember spending time with you. Time that wasn’t fitting you for dresses, or helping you prepare to meet royalty, or cajoling you out the door every day. And…and I couldn’t! I can’t remember the last time I stopped to think about you, to think about how much I love your hair that shines in the moonlight, and your eyes that beam with intensity. How your smile turns my whole day around and how your laugh is my favourite sound in the world. Your heart is so big, and it chose to love me.” 

Tears had gathered in Evie’s eyes at this point, and if she had looked up to meet Mal’s, she would see the same. She took a deep breath in, the clog in her throat making it shudder, and carried on, feeling Mal’s protective hold on her throughout. “I can’t remember ever stopping to think about how the tour was affecting you. If I had stopped, just for a second, to think about the position it was putting you in day in and day out…if I had given proper thought to what your insides were screaming at me to notice, I would have seen you were miserable. I _should_ have seen you were miserable. You’re everything to me, I’m supposed to be the one to protect you. And instead all I could think about was myself, and how excited the tour made me. Mal, I love you so much and I’m just, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no. Evie, baby, no.” Mal cooed, tears falling down her own face as she watched Evie crumble in upset. She gently pulled Evie’s head closer into her, letting her girlfriend lodge herself in the crook of her neck, holding her tight. She had so much she wanted to say to Evie, but she knew she needed to let her get out whatever she was holding in before she could make sure she would hear her properly. 

Mal felt Evie’s tears wet her neck and she hummed softly to comfort her girl, trying to get control of her own tears at the same time. She had her hand protectively on the back of Evie’s head, gently tucking the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. Usually Mal would place soft kisses on Evie’s cheek but this side of her face bore the marks of her capture, and Mal couldn’t afford to let the anger stir inside her at the sight of them. She needed to be fully present and there, for Evie.

They stayed that way for a while, and even when Evie’s tears had subsided, Mal’s humming continued, filling the room with a gentle presence until they were happy to move again. When Mal felt Evie’s lips press onto the underside of her chin in the most delicate of kisses, she tilted Evie’s head up to look at her, smiling warmly into her eyes.

“My Evie. My beautiful girl.” She whispered, shaking her head as tears were already spilling out of her eyes before she could even begin what she wanted to say. “How could I ever put into words how much you mean to me, how much my heart craves you? You are the greatest thing that has ever, and will ever happen to me. I love you with my entire being, and I feel myself breaking seeing you like this. Seeing you blame yourself for something that was _not_ your fault. You hear me? None of this was your fault.”

Mal emphasised her words by staring into Evie’s eyes as she said them, willing the girl to see her genuineness and truth. She wiped the tears away from Evie’s face gently before taking a shuddering breath in, trying to regain her senses to be able to keep talking.

“Running away from Auradon was the stupidest and most selfish thing I’ve ever done. And I know what you want to say.” She said to Evie who looked like she was about to interrupt. “You want to disagree with me and say I wasn’t being stupid or selfish. But I was, Eves. I was. There are _so_ many other things I could have done instead of running away. Believe me, I thought about all of them every second we were apart. We’ve never been able to afford to just think about ourselves. We only survived the Isle because we were a pack. And just because we’re in Auradon now, it doesn’t mean our actions don’t affect each other anymore. We’re a family, we need each other. Making such a drastic move with no notice wasn’t just stupid and selfish, it was unfair to you and the boys, it caused you hurt, and just look at what it put you through. Look at what I put you through.”

“Mal, no.” Evie murmured, reaching up to wipe Mal’s tears away. “You ran away. But you didn’t hand me over to Uma.”

“I may as well have! You would have never been dragged back to the Isle if I didn’t run there first. Evie, that’s the place you dread the most, and you went back there.”

“In a heartbeat, for you. Always, for you.”

This only made Mal cry more and she continued to fight her way through the tears. “We never keep secrets. I’ve never not been able to talk to you. At first I didn’t tell you I was hating the tour because I didn’t want to disappoint you. But, it grew into more than that. I kept trying to lie to myself, but I always knew. I was scared that I couldn’t be the lady all of these heroes I was meeting thought I was. I thought I was going to mess up, and it felt like they were just waiting for me to blow. I chose good but it’s so hard to be something that goes against my nature. And I was terrified I would do something wrong, and risk our places here at Auradon. It was too much pressure. And instead of talking to you, instead of asking for help, I ran. Because I’m a coward.”

“Mal…”

“Please, Eves, let me finish. When we were back on the Isle, I said to Jay if I could take it all back I would. I’ll spend my whole life trying to right this wrong. I’ll never forgive myself for what happened to you. And I need to know that you believe this isn’t your fault. Because I can’t bear to hear you apologise when you did nothing wrong. _I_ need to apologise, and I am so sorry for what happened. Evie, you’re my entire world. I’ll never know how I got so lucky to have you, but I swear to every universe out there I’m never letting you go. You pull me through everything and you make me believe that I can be a better person. That I can be good. You are the most beautiful, ethereal being to walk any kingdom and every time I see you I still get butterflies. I feel like I’m 5 again, and I’m seeing your blue hair swaying in the wind in the market place, and my heart feels like it’s going to break out of my chest unless I see your smile and get to hold your hand. You are the strongest, most powerful and fearless girl I know and I’ve yet to see anyone get close to your level. I’ll spend my whole life trying.”

At this, Evie let out a small laugh, her cheeks red from blushing but also from the tears that were a constant presence on her face. Mal cupped her chin and they kissed, feeling their tension melt away by the second.

“I love you, Evie. I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

Mal laughed, shaking her head at Evie as she dried both of their tears. “Always trying to one up me, hey?”

“It’s not trying if I do.”

“Ouch! There’s my sassy girl.” Mal said to Evie’s smirking face, feeling overwhelming joy for the first time in so long. They both dissolved into laughter, still pressed together tightly, tear tracks running down both of their faces. There was now a renewed sense of energy between them, and both girls felt more connected to each other than they had ever been. So much had happened to both of them over the past few days, and they still had a long way to go together to recover. But they had made a start, and it was going to pull them through.

“I feel like this giant weight off my shoulders has disappeared. All it took was an honest conversation with you that I should have had two days ago to make me feel this much better.” Mal said with a regretful smile, resting her forehead on Evie’s.

Evie didn’t want Mal to feel so down on herself for the decisions she made. Of course she believed that Mal could have made other decisions before leaving, but she knows Mal inside and out. It’s like she could see the logic inside of Mal’s brain and how it let her come to that decision. She could never hold anything like that against her, even if it was the wrong decision. What transpired wasn’t her fault. 

“I feel so much lighter too, Mal. And don’t criticise yourself. We live and learn. And we’ll always be there for each other, to figure out the best way forward.” She said to Mal, leaning her forehead against hers gently. “Also did we just get married? Because I swear those were our wedding vows we just said to each other.”

Mal snorted quietly. “Getting married in pyjamas? Where did your standards go?”

“Baby, as long as I’m with you I’ll get married in anything.”

“Whoa, what did we miss?”

The two girls were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t hear Carlos and Jay arrive back from walking Dude. They both jumped slightly in shock, Evie more so than Mal, but relaxed the second they heard it was Carlos’ voice by the door. 

“Yeah, we leave for one dog walk and get back to find out you’re engaged?” Jay entered the room with a cheeky grin in place.

Mal and Evie just laughed, both of them untangling their limbs to sit up against the headboard in order to see the boys properly. Although, that didn't mean they separated. After the few days they had just had, and especially their most recent conversation, they were too wrapped up in each other to not be connected. They clasped their hands together with Mal crossing her ankle over Evie’s and resting her head on her shoulder.

“Would it surprise you if we were getting married?”

“Not in the slightest.” Carlos said in reply to Evie’s question, rearranging Dude in his arms. “It would surprise me you did it in pyjamas though.”

“See! This is what I said.”

“Well we didn’t get engaged. Not yet, anyway.” Evie laughed, feeling Mal burrow in closer to her side in agreement. “We just had the heart to heart we needed, got some things off our chest.”

“Yeah that doesn’t surprise us either.” Jay gestured to their tear stained faces. “You look like you’ve been crying the house down.”

Mal stuck her tongue out at him. “And we probably will again later, so get used to it.”

“Oh, let me know when you do. I could use a good cry.” 

Everyone burst into laughter at Carlos’ statement and he came properly into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. He let Dude out of his arms, and instantly the dog rushed over to Evie, nuzzling and licking under her chin.

“Aw Dude, I missed you too.” She said, scratching the fur on his head.

“Can he still speak?”

Carlos shook his head at Mal. “He hasn’t said anything since the pirate docks. At least the truth gummy didn’t go completely to waste.”

Mal turned to Dude, also joining to scratch his head. “You’re a hero little guy. You really saved our asses out there.”

“Mine especially. You’ll get all the treats forever, Dude.” Evie laughed when Dude started jumping around in excitement.

“The gang is all back together.” Jay lifted his legs onto the bed, nudging Evie’s foot gently as he spoke.

Evie smiled back at him, and everyone else in the room. “Just the way it should be.”

—————

As much as the VKs knew their day of serenity was eventually going to be interrupted by more bad news that inevitably followed them wherever they went, they clung to their happy moments together. Mal was resting against Evie, her head on her shoulder. Evie had been twirling Mal’s hair through her fingers when it hit her that her hair colour was completely different to the blonde hair she had last seen on her. After everything that had happened, it was no wonder that wasn’t the first thing on Evie’s mind. However, the air of that day felt lighter around them, and Evie let herself indulge in the carefree conversation, getting genuinely invested when Mal told her that it wasn’t Lady Tremaine who dyed and styled it.

“Little Dizzy did your hair? Shut up.” Evie said in disbelief to Mal, sitting more upright to look at it when she was told this. 

“I know right? I’m like, loving it.”

“I’m so proud of her.”

Carlos laughed at their conversation, feeling warm inside at the familiarity of them discussing fashion and beauty like two girls who had no other cares in the world. “Eves, just wait until you hear what else she did. She was like a full on hero when you were captured.”

Evie’s heart clenched. She didn’t even know what Dizzy had done yet but she was already overwhelmed with the love and devotion that poured out of her. “I love that little one so much. I wish I could have seen her.”

“Don’t worry, baby. She knows how much you love her, and it’s clear how much she loves you. I think she even gives me a run for my money over who loves you more.”

Laughing at Mal’s comment, Evie hugged her tighter. “She wasn’t in danger, was she?”

“No. We weren’t planning on telling her, we didn’t want to worry her and we knew it would upset her so much to know. She helped us make smoke bombs, she didn’t even ask what we needed them for.”

A dry chuckle came out of Evie’s mouth. “That goes to show how devoted the Isle kids are to us, even after all this time. Remember how we used to have them help out in our schemes? The less they knew why, the better for them, because if they got caught they could just feign ignorance.”

“Yeah. I miss those cute little shits.” Mal said, laughing with the memories.

Jay carried on Mal’s story. “In the middle of the night we heard banging on the walls of the hideout and we assumed the worst, but it was Dizzy climbing up. Some of Uma’s crew had come into Curl Up and Dye and were bragging about what had happened to you. They ah, they said some pretty horrible things. Dizzy was so upset she left and came to us.”

“Oh, poor thing. You made sure she was ok after that?”

Jay nodded. “We did, she stayed with us the rest of the night. Mal was so great with her, you would have been proud, Eves.” 

“I just did what I’ve always seen you do.” Mal smiled at Evie, kissing her cheek softly. “And then Dizzy got to see Carlos again, and meet Lonnie and Ben.”

“Bet she loved meeting Ben.”

Carlos smiled at Evie’s statement, nodding in remembrance. “When we were leaving the Isle, I was the last to get in the car, and she came up to me. When you were passed out.” He added to Evie when she gave him a confused look. “She had made these smoke bombs that had sleeping gas in them, because she knew Uma would try to chase us. Not to mention we almost left Mal’s spell book on the Isle, had it not been for Dizzy seeing it.”

If it was possible, Evie’s heart clenched tighter again. “She is the most incredible person. We have to get her out of that place.”

Mal shifted in Evie’s arms, looking at her with a soft smile. “We will, Eves. But one step at a time. We need to focus on you right now.”

Just as Mal was finishing her sentence, a knock at the front door sounded. The noise startled all four kids, even though they were expecting Fairy Godmother at some point in the night. They heard her call out, and Jay got up to let her in. 

“Hello, dear ones.” Fairy Godmother greeted as she walked into the room, smiling gratefully at Jay as he gestured for her to sit down on a chair by the bed. Mal and Evie had separated somewhat, both sitting up against the headboard side by side, with Carlos still sitting at the foot of the bed and Jay coming to stand behind him.

“Hi, Fairy Godmother.” They all greeted back.

“Thank you for coming by. I can imagine things are very busy for you right now.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, Evie. I will always have time for you four.”

Mal met her eyes and they shone with gratitude. It was clear that Fairy Godmother understood how important it was for these kids to hear that kind of reassurance and validation. “Did you…did you get to talk to the Healing Centre?” 

Fairy Godmother nodded, clearly thinking about her next words carefully before she spoke them. “I did, Mal. I explained the situation with as much discretion as possible, and everyone who works there is bound by confidentiality, so you don’t have to worry about that. Unfortunately…it seems that my original summations were correct. The potion cure will take one week to brew, and the key ingredient will need to be the blood of Uma or the blade she used to make the cuts.”

Even though they were expecting this, all four VKs felt their chests heave down in disappointment.

“And if we don’t get it?” Evie asked in a timid voice, a far cry from her normal confident stature.

“Without it, the potion is effectively useless.” Fairy Godmother replied, sorrow in her voice. “I am so sorry, to you all. I know this isn’t the news you wanted to hear.”

“We’ve gotten too used to things working out, I guess we should have seen the bad situations that seem to follow us coming.”

Jay rested his arm around Carlos’ shoulders, pulling the boy back into him. “Don’t think like that. We have to be positive.”

“We have to go back to the Isle, Jay. How can anything make that positive?” Carlos muttered.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Everyone turned to Mal who was staring at Fairy Godmother, eyes inquisitive. To anyone else in Auradon, the question may have come across as rude. However, Fairy Godmother expected nothing less from Mal, she knew the girl always picked up on the slightest change of mood in the room and read her facial expression before she could hide it.

“I must admit, I’m not sure how I feel about you all returning to the Isle.”

Within a second, Evie felt Mal tense beside her, her entire being turning defensive. “You can’t stop us from going back. You can’t. We’re going back there and getting what we need for Evie, even if you don’t let us back in.”

“Mal has magic. It doesn’t matter if you hide the limousine. We’ll find a way.”

“Children!” Fairy Godmother called, effectively silencing Carlos and Mal. She clasped her hands together, trying to pull her insides together from when they had crumbled at seeing the love and dedication these four had for each other. “I would never stop you from making your own decisions. And I will never close the border of Auradon to you. You are welcome here, forever. And you are not prisoners here. Of course you can go back. I just despise the idea of you having to put yourselves through that again. I have been considering sending Auradon guards with you, the best we have. For your protection.”

Both Mal and Carlos subsided, listening to what she had to say. 

“It won’t work.” Evie spoke up, pulling everyones eyes to her. “The Isle fights dirty. It’s not worth risking lives. Plus, if we showed up with Auradon guards, Uma’s pride would never let her cooperate. Even if it was just the four of us who went, we would have to somehow trick it out of her.”

“Evie? What do you mean ‘even if’ we went to the Isle?” Jay questioned, and the air in the room changed. “We _are_ going back.”

Evie could feel all eyes on her as she looked down at her hands. She heard Mal’s intake of breath, and knew it wouldn’t release until she talked. “If we go back, we’re not making it out alive. We got so lucky last time, and that was Uma being forgiving. There is no way she would let us leave unscathed.”

“We still have to try! We know it’s not going to be easy, but we can pull it off if we’re clever about it.”

“Jay, we can’t say we’ll just be clever and we’ll be safe. The pirates are crazed. They’re out for blood. I can’t let you all go back, knowing what we’ll be walking into.”

“If we don’t go back, you’ll die! Evie, do you understand that? You’ll die!”

The room went silent at Mal’s outburst. Evie looked up at her to see tears shining in her eyes, her face wracked with a distraught expression. 

“We don’t know how long the poison will take to have a bad effect on me. It could be a long time away.”

Mal shook her head adamantly. “No, Evie, no. It’s already bad. Every time you sleep I see it. Soon it will be when you’re awake. Evie, I can’t…I can’t not go. You can’t die when we could go and fix you.” She whispered, the anger gone from her voice and the sorrow taking over.

Tears shone back in Evie’s eyes at Mal’s words, the weight of the situation finally getting the better of her. “But Mal, it’s not just me. What if we go and you get hurt? Or Jay or Carlos? What if one of you dies? And what if after all that, we still didn’t manage to get what we came for? How could I live with that? How could I live without any of you?” She said, looking back to the boys who similarly had tears in their eyes.

“Evie, how could we live without you?” Carlos asked, a tear falling down his cheek. 

At his words, Mal crumbled, putting her face in her hands as she sobbed, wanting to lean into Evie for comfort but feeling ridiculous that in this situation, she was the one who was falling apart. She felt Evie’s arms come around her and pull her into her chest, and weakly tried to fight it.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok.” She cooed gently, even though tears were running down her own face. “Mal, I’m here. It’s ok.”

“I know you, Evie. We know you. You want to protect us. I saw your face on the ship when Mal was handing the wand over to Uma.” Carlos said, recognising the fact that to Fairy Godmother, that would sound like a highly suspect sentence. She barely reacted, though, making him presume Ben and Lonnie had filled her in on the minor details. “You wanted to stop her. You were going to say that it wasn’t worth it. That’s why I showed you the printer remote. To stop you from doing that.”

Understanding his actions, Evie nodded at him. She felt Mal turn her head to the side, still resting it on her chest. She tucked some of Mal’s purple hair behind her ear, wiping at the tears on her face and then her own. 

“You’re everything to us, Evie. And if it was one of us in your situation, I know you wouldn’t take no for an answer. If you want to protect us, let us go to the Isle. Because we wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves seeing you deteriorate knowing we could have done something.” Jay said earnestly.

  
“We have to try, Eves.” Mal whispered, one of her hands coming to tangle in between Evie’s. “Please.”

Evie knew they were right. She was scared out of her mind at what was happening to her, and the threat of what was to come. She knew the Isle would be unforgiving, but Mal was right. They had to try.

“Ok.” She murmured, seeing all three of their faces relax into relieved expressions. 

“I’m going to the kitchen to boil the kettle for some tea. Would anyone like some?” Fairy Godmother hastily got up, heading for the door, but not before the VKs could see her wiping a tear from her eye as well. Carlos responded their confirmation to her as she left.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset everyone.” Evie said, seeing everyone shake their heads in disagreement in response.

“Eves, don’t be sorry. You never have to be sorry about this.” 

Carlos nodded at Mal’s words. “We actually should have seen this coming. You’re so selfless, but you have to know we have your back. We’d do anything for you.”

“I love you guys.”

“We love you too, Evie.” Jay replied, smiling at her. He then watched as Evie brushed some of her hair out of her face, and saw a chance to brighten the mood. “On a lighter note and speaking before of Dizzy, she gave us some stuff for you Evie.”

“She did?”  


“Yeah. She had made all of these tiaras and bracelets and berets and asked us if we could give them to you. Mal, what did we even end up doing with them?”

“They’re in my bag, but I don’t know where that is. I think it’s probably still in the limo.”

Jay nodded. “We should ask Ben to get all the stuff we took to the Isle out of there before any royal guard notices. I hope Lonnie took the swords we used back to the gym. The last thing we need is Coach on our backs about - ”

“The swords!” Mal shot up off Evie, sitting up with such renewed vigour she was almost on her feet.

“The swords?” Evie questioned, looking strangely at Mal. 

“The swords!” She repeated with such glee that it was almost scaring the other three. “We have to call Ben, we have to make sure he still has the swords.”

“Mal, slow down. What are you talking about?” Carlos watched as Mal scrambled around, trying to find her phone. She was eventually successful, and tapped away to call Ben as she continued to speak.

“When I was fighting Uma on the ship, it was pretty even. There was one time, though, that she fucked up and found herself in a vulnerable position. I swung at her hand, and my sword broke her skin. I remember, because there was blood on the end of it when I ran off. Uma’s blood is on the sword I used, the sword that’s now in Auradon.”

“Holy shit. Holy shit!” Jay exclaimed.

“What if they took the swords out and cleaned them? What if it’s gone?”

Mal took Evie’s hand and kissed it, putting the phone to her ear. “We’re about to find out.”

The VKs waited with baited breath as they heard Mal greet Ben on the phone, and ask him the whereabouts of the swords, and if they had been touched since they got back.

“They’re still in there?” They heard Mal repeat excitedly, and all let out a collective sigh of relief. 

“Ok Ben, do not touch them. I’ll explain everything later, but is there anyway you could bring the limousine to the house like, now? I know it’s late and I’m really sorry, but this could save Evie’s life.” She said, gripping Evie’s hand tight. “Yeah, tell Lonnie to come as well. Thank you so much, Ben!”

They watched Mal hang up the phone and stare up at all of them. No one knew what to say, but once more the air in the room had dramatically shifted, this time it was full of cautious excitement and hope.

“If this works, we won’t have to go back to the Isle. We won’t ever have to go back there again.” Carlos said slowly, seeing everyone’s eyes light up. 

“This could be it. We could really do it. Mal, I can’t believe this!” Evie kissed her excitedly, feeling the most alive she had felt in days. 

“Come on, we have to go and tell Fairy Godmother. She’ll know whether it will work. Hades, this has to work.” Mal said in a prayer like manner, getting off the bed and carefully helping Evie to her feet. 

“We’ve made it through hell and high water. This is the universe throwing us a solid, for once in our lives. It’s going to work, I know it will.” Jay had a determined smile on his face, his expression matching the others as they went to reveal their plan to Fairy Godmother, each step they took getting them one bit closer to ridding Uma’s curse forever.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put you all through enough angst, so finally this chapter features some soft mevie time and some desperately needed healing for the VKs! it's not going to be an easy recovery for any of them, but things are finally looking up and they'll stay that way! i think these kids have been through enough <3  
> i love hearing what you guys think about how the story is going! drop a comment and let me know what you think if you feel so inclined! thanks for reading everyone :)))))

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate you all for reading :)


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